|
Summary
Provide home ventilatory support to children with severe chronic respiratory problems and improve their quality of life
Description
There are children whose complex diseases lead them to have a deficit in respiratory function, which motivates constant hospitalizations, with prolonged stay, separation from the family and loss of schooling. These children are affected by various diseases such as Infant Cerebral Palsy, neurodegenerative diseases, muscular dystrophies, or lung diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis. To improve their quality of life, technology has developed various biomedical equipment (Biphasic Ventilators) that are used at home, allowing them to improve their quality of life, reduce the risk of infections, and achieve greater survival and as a family.
The National Institute of Child Health, the first pediatric hospital in the country, receives an average of 5-10 new children per year with these diseases, who require these equipment on loan to continue their treatment at home, they come from poor households benefiting from the Comprehensive Health Insurance.
Community Needs Assessment:
The Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño is an institution of high complexity and national coverage, which receives children affected with complex diseases that require specialized treatment. One in every 4 children hospitalized at the institute is a child with complex needs.
There are approximately 10,000 hospitalizations per year, therefore, about 2,500 children have this characteristic. Within this group, there are those who require respiratory support to continue their life with quality and at home. These children with chronic respiratory diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and muscular dystrophies have these needs, which if they cannot be cared for, they would have to remain hospitalized for the rest of their lives. Approximately 5 children a year may require this support.
Project impact: how will you help once it is finished?
The home mechanical ventilation project significantly impacts the quality of life of affected children and families, allowing them to return home, preserving the family unity, allowing the child to participate in school and social activities, with fewer infectious complications. It allows children to have a shorter hospital stay, causing fewer complications and lower costs for the health facility.
As there are no hospitals for chronic patients in the country, this project is an advantageous solution both for children and families, as well as for the health entities themselves, because it increases their efficiency and quality of care.
Sustainability:
The Home Mechanical Ventilation project requires having the necessary equipment (Bipap Respirators for home use), in order to provide the necessary care at home. This support will be maintained from now on by the Comprehensive Health Insurance, which provides the necessary supplies for its use. And later on these equipment could be replaced, being able to serve a greater number of children.
This intervention is already being developed in other countries of the region such as Chile, with great success, also allowing greater availability of beds for acute cases. Given its usefulness, it is possible that the Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Salud) could include it as a valid intervention in the treatment approach for children with chronic and complex respiratory diseases.
| 
