Naples. Those who fight cancer must not only deal with physical and psychological pain.
She often also has to deal with practical difficulties, such as going to the hospital every week to disinfect the PICC, the catheter used to administer chemotherapy drugs.
These difficulties affect not only the patient, but also his family members, especially when the patient is elderly or debilitated. In addition, to accompany the patient or follow certain treatments in the hospital, family members are often forced to give up days of work.
If the therapy lasts a short time, the problem is manageable, but if it lasts for months, it becomes a burden for the whole family.
The Cancer Institute 'Pascale' of Naples has developed the HVAS (Home Vascular Access System) project to alleviate at least these difficulties. This innovative initiative, currently unique in Italy and Europe, guarantees caregivers and patients a better quality of life.
The project allows to save resources and working days that, otherwise, relatives and patients would be forced to sacrifice to accompany or follow certain treatments in hospital.
The beneficiaries of the project are patients with PICCs, devices that are implanted and remain in place for long periods of time, ensuring the possibility of administering appropriate therapies.
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However, to ensure the proper functioning of these devices and prevent infections, it is necessary to perform weekly maintenance on them.
Normally this activity is carried out in hospital, but thanks to the HVAS project, caregivers can be appropriately trained with a course and then followed in all activities via a cell phone, allowing them to carry out maintenance at the patient's home.
This significantly reduces patient contact with the hospital and minimizes the risk of contracting hospital-acquired infections.
The HVAS project in brief:
Objective: To reduce hospital wait times for patients with PICCs and improve the quality of life of patients and caregivers.
How it works: Caregivers are trained to perform PICC maintenance in the patient’s home via cell phone.
Advantages:
Reducing patient contact with the hospital and the risk of hospital-acquired infections.
Saving resources and working days for family members.
Improving the quality of life of patients and caregivers.
The HVAS project is an innovative initiative that represents a concrete example of how telemedicine can improve healthcare and patients' quality of life.
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