5 Medical Conditions You Can Get Treatment For At Home with Hospital-Level Care

Conditions eligible for Mobile Inpatient Care at Home

It’s no surprise that one of the most common Chinese New Year greetings you hear getting thrown around is to wish for good health. After all, getting sick unexpectedly can throw a spanner in the works, regardless of age. For serious conditions, you might need to get admitted into a hospital if it cannot be adequately managed by visiting a General Practitioner (GP) or polyclinic.

However, you could potentially save yourself hours waiting at the emergency department for an inpatient bed by opting to be cared for under the Ministry of Health’s Mobile Inpatient Care at Home (MIC@Home) programme. As such, here are 5 medical conditions that you might be able to receive treatment for at home instead of checking into a hospital.

What is Mobile Inpatient Care at Home (MIC@Home)?

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Mobile Inpatient Care at Home, or MIC@Home, is a programme that was mainstreamed and integrated into usual inpatient service by the Ministry of Health. It’s an alternative inpatient care delivery method that allows patients to get hospital-level treatment and recuperate from the comfort of their own homes instead of a hospital ward.

Image credit: Khoo Teck Puat Hospital

By opting to receive quality healthcare at home, patients can reduce the waiting time needed to be admitted to a hospital ward or reduce their length of stay in the hospital, where they’ll remain out of commission for however long their stay is. Patients who decide to recover with MIC@Home also save their caregivers multiple trips to the hospitals to visit them, while having round-the-clock access to their care team via a hotline.

Akin to physical stays in hospital wards, MIC@Home patients can pay for their treatment with subsidies, MediShield Life, MediSave, Integrated Shield Plans, and other insurance coverage where applicable.

MIC@Home is not limited to the specific conditions listed below, and not all patients with the mentioned conditions are suitable for MIC@Home. Patients are advised to consult their doctor to determine their suitability on receiving healthcare treatments with MIC@Home.

1. Dengue

Image credit: Changi General Hospital

It seems like we can never be truly rid of the accursed Aedes mosquitoes, as we still occasionally see those dengue hotspot banners being put up in our neighbourhoods. Despite the government’s best efforts to keep their numbers at bay, catching dengue fever through the bites of these black and white striped mozzies can most definitely happen to you.

Symptoms typically appear 4 to 7 days after being bitten, and include a sudden onset of fever which can last up to a week, severe headache, joint and muscle pain, and skin rashes. Although there’s no specific treatment for dengue fever, close monitoring of your blood tests might be warranted to indicate safe recovery.

Thankfully, patients admitted under the MIC@Home programme can receive routine blood tests at home. If necessary, transport can also be arranged to and from the hospitals for various scans and procedures.

2. Skin infections such as cellulitis

For those battling with skin infections such as cellulitis, you’ll be pleased to know that your irritating afflictions can possibly be remedied via MIC@Home too. You might have acquired a case of cellulitis if an area of your skin, most likely on your lower legs, suddenly becomes red, swollen and tender.

Image credit: The Vascular & Endovascular Clinic

Cellulitis usually resolves after around 10 days of taking antibiotics, but admission might be required if your condition does not improve despite initial treatment.

For patients receiving inpatient care with MIC@Home, a 24-hour call concierge is readily available for patients and caregivers to contact should their condition worsen. Home visits by nurses and doctors who are well-versed in wound management will also set patients back on the road to recovery promptly.

3. Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

You’ll also find yourself hitting the loo more often than you’d like.

If you’re unfortunate enough to have tangoed with Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs), you’ll know how debilitating it can be. From grimacing at the burning sensation while peeing to lower tummy and back pain, contracting a UTI is no fun.

Image credit: SingHealth

While most UTI cases can be managed in outpatient settings, in severe cases, patients may need to rely on intravenous antibiotics to treat the infection, and the MIC@Home programme is well-equipped for these situations. Nurses conducting home visits can administer intravenous infusions or injections, so there’s no need for recovering patients to head down to a hospital for these treatments.

4. Stable heart failure

Make no mistake, MIC@Home may not be suitable for those facing severe and life-threatening health complications such as a major heart attack or stroke. You might be shocked that a condition that sounds as dire as a worsening heart failure can be symptomatically managed and monitored in the privacy of one’s own home, but it’s true.

Image credit: Singapore Heart Foundation

In layman’s terms, patients tend to get leg swelling and breathlessness with exertion due to accumulation of water in the legs and lung area. Intravenous diuretics can be given to remove the water quickly, and the patient’s weight and symptoms can be monitored at home to demonstrate improvement and recovery of their heart function.

Image credit: NUHS@Home

Apart from routine home visits and virtual consultations, MIC@Home patients and their caregivers are educated to spot signs and symptoms of a medical emergency. Upon identifying them, they are told to call 995 for immediate medical services.

Moreover, to mitigate the risk of deteriorating health, participating hospitals that offer MIC@Home services implement measures to ensure the safety of their patients. These measures include meticulous patient assessment and selection, patient dashboards showing alerts for abnormal vital signs, and informed consent that allows for hospital transfers when required.

For patients who are already hospitalised and have stabilised during their initial ward stay, they can be transferred to MIC@Home to complete their remaining hospital treatment at home, thus reducing the number of days spent at the hospital.

5. Pneumonia

Another condition that’s surprisingly manageable with MIC@Home is pneumonia, which is an infection that inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs, filling it with fluid or pus and causing long-lasting symptoms.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Much like the other illnesses above, pneumonia is treated with antibiotics and ample rest, but hospital admission may be required if the patient’s vitals are unstable. In addition to intravenous antibiotics, MIC@Home patients will receive a vital signs monitoring kit that consists of various monitoring tools upon admission, like a blood pressure monitor, pulse oximeter, and thermometer. Medical staff can even perform an ultrasound or electrocardiogram (ECG) at the patient’s home if needed.

Patients, along with their caregivers at home, will be taught how to use certain tools to keep tabs on their condition. Recovering at home also comes with the advantage of being able to do light tasks around the house, and once they feel up to it, patients can even begin working from home, making adapting back to their daily routines easy.

Consider recovering with MIC@Home the next time you’re sick

Turns out, getting hospital-level health care is not limited to physically paying a visit to your nearest A&E and getting admitted into a ward. Recovering at home comes with a slew of benefits such as getting back to tip top condition in the presence of loved ones. So if you fulfill the conditions for it, do consider opting for MIC@Home’s services the next time you or a loved one is unwell.

Learn more about the MIC@Home programme

This post was brought to you by the MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation.
Cover image adapted from: Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, NUHS@Home
Note: MIC@Home is the overarching term for the provision of hospital inpatient-level care in a home setting. Each hospital has designated this program with a name specific to their institution, although they all refer to the same initiative. For example, SGH runs the MIC@Home program under the name SGH@Home.

Khoo Yong Hao