Home Health Care: The Necessity in the Health Policy of Iran

Home health care is a wide range of health care services that can be given in your home for an illness or injury (1). During last decade, home health care is taken into consideration seriously. The concept of home health care began in the 1850's when traveling health care professionals provided in-home visits to patients in need of health care and unable to seek such care on their own (2). Now, these cares are used primarily to provide long-term care (3). In the inadequate access to these services in the home, the care of seriously and chronically ill elderly and terminal patients is frequently relegated to hospital and long-term care facilities, or to traditional home nursing services supplemented by episodic emergency room visits and crisis hospitalizations (4). This can be costly for governments, insurance companies and families as well as elder people prefer take care at home.
    Elderly health in Iran is of newly established issues (5, 6). Elder people have several needs such as insurance, psycho-social support, and health services which means that home health care services are an inevitable necessity. For example about wound care for pressure sores or a surgical wound, patient and caregiver education, intravenous or nutrition therapy, injections, and monitoring serious illness and unstable health status (1).