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Some excerpts from the interview:
HCCInsights: What were your impressions of being inside the patient’s home?
Karst: It was very humbling, especially when people invite you into their space and you might be a stranger. Dr. Chiang is already established and almost like a friend or a neighbor, but I was new. There’s a vulnerability for both the provider and patient, that humility of them allowing you into their space as a fellow human or neighbor and seeing all the personal things about their lives. You don't get that in an office appointment.
HCCInsights: How does physically being in the patient’s home help you as a provider?
Karst: Providing care in the home offers insights that you don’t get as often in a clinical setting -- insights that can help prevent errors and hospital readmissions. You can only ask so many questions and gather so much information when you're admitting someone back into the hospital — there's always this mystery. But home care eliminates that.
HCCInsights: Approximately how many residency programs in the U.S. would you guess offer a house call rotation, Dr. Chiang?
Chiang: From what I know, maybe only a handful of residency programs offer residents the opportunity to go into a patient's home on a consistent basis… House calls can demonstrate to the residents the importance of understanding and caring for the entire patient, especially for those people who lack access to ongoing primary care services.
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