Patient with respiratory compromise controlled by a pediatric home hospitalization unit.

OBJECTIVE The use of paediatric home oxygen therapy is initiated in neonatal chronic lung disease; later it spreads to other patients with chronic hypoxemia. The frequency and need for oxygen therapy is growing; this, together with the family benefits, justify the implementation of a home treatment plan. Our objective with this work was to know and describe the characteristics of the patients admitted to the Pediatric HaD Unit of a tertiary hospital, the average cost per patient of oxygen therapy during 13 years of review, and evaluate the quality of the service. METHODS Retrospective descriptive study by reviewing records of patients admitted to home care hospital at home of a paediatric tertiary care hospital (n=124) for 13 years (2000-2013), to learn and to describe the characteristics of the unit and these patients, and costs. After that, it was done statistical analysis through t-Student. RESULTS 124 patients with chronic hypoxemia patients with mean age of 2.2 years. The most frequent cause was lung diseases, including ECPN as the most important. They accounted 14.2% of hospitalizations in home care hospital at home department, and 60% were achieved clinical stability. The mean cost was 1,991.1€ per patient, which supposes 93% of economical saving in comparison with conventional hospitalization (3,988.91€). CONCLUSIONS The use of oxygen in HaD improves the quality of life and survival of our patients, reducing the number of readmissions and hospital costs.