Activities of home health care services for children in Paris

Background. - The Home Health Care services for children in Paris was recently established and it is interesting to analyse the first results of their activities. Population and methods. - A random sample (n = 157) of the 418 children admitted to home health care in the Assistance publique-Hopitaux de Paris (HAD-P) in 1991 has been studied; only one episode of care was analyzed for each child. The data analysed included sociodemographic characteristics of the children, their clinical diagnosis and the care received. Results. - More than half of the children presented chronic diseases. Follow-up of newborn children was the main reason for admitting children with acute conditions. Housing and socioeconomic conditions were poor for a significant number of children. A seasonal pattern was found, with higher activity in the beginning and in the end of the year. Conclusions. - More efforts are needed to develop complementarity between hospital-based and home health care services, beginning with improved communication of derailed information regarding home health care objectives and conditions.