Access and Quality of Pediatric Home Healthcare: A Systematic Review

An increasing number of children and youth with special health care needs are considered medically complex and require extensive medical care. At the same time, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines identify the home/family environment as the ideal place for these children to receive long-term care.

But what do we know about the quality and accessibility of home health care for children? Although there have been studies looking at these issues, to date no one has summarized the findings, measured how children access health care at home, evaluated the quality of current home health care, nor identified the research gaps.

This journal article describes the work that a research team led by Dr. Carolyn Foster at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago conducted to fill these gaps—by undertaking a systematic review of the current literature and evidence base and determining where future studies are needed.