The hospital at home

Patient’s choice

“Say ‘road’… You’re a little better.” The first thing Dr. Rico does when she arrives at Morales’ house is auscultate him. “Yes, I’m breathing cleaner,” the patient replies. Sitting in a chair in his living room, he explains that he feels “flat,” with “wanting to sleep.” Morales had a lung infection that caused a pleural effusion. In the emergency room of the Clínic he had been diagnosed, a week before, with a pneumonia. “They proposed that I stay there or be hospitalized at home and I considered this better. I feel calmer, There is less movement. The hospital is fine for very serious people,” he explains.

“At home I feel much calmer, more at ease.
And I have more movement.”

Victor Morales
74 year old patient

For his wife, Soledad Jiménez, it is also more comfortable to have it at home. “Every day the doctor and the nurse come, and they’ve also given us a 24-hour helpline which gives me a lot of peace of mind,” says Jiménez, leaning against the door frame while her husband is being given his medication. The “food.” at home is also better than that of the hospital.

Morales, Dr. Rico continued, has a fluid in the lung whose origin is unknown. “You are fine, but we cannot discharge you without knowing why the fluid has formed,” he explains to his patient. Although it is difficult to calculate, the man is expecting about 10 more days of home hospitalization. during which time you will not be able to leave your home.