Caregivers, nurses, doctors and other specialists provide different types of care to people. This care can be outpatient, semimural or inpatient, depending on the patient’s wishes and what makes the most sense in that situation.
Outpatient care
By outpatient care we mean care that is not provided in an institution (hospital, nursing home, etc.). Ambulatory care is also called extramural (outside the walls). People who use this care are not admitted, often live independently, but do need care in a certain way. The following specialists provide care that falls within ambulatory care;
- The psychiatrist has conversations with patients who then simply go home and work, etc.
- The psychologist,
- Home care.
An example of this is the woman who lost her husband and eldest son in an accident. She was too busy with her other children and her work, and she also had to arrange so much for the funeral and insurance, etc. She deeply buried the sadness over the death of her loved ones and tackled it hard. As a result, she has been having conversations with a psychiatrist for more than a year now. It started with 3 one-hour conversations a week, but now she has gotten to the point where she can do it with 1 conversation. She feels much better and can now give her grief a place.
Semimural care
Semimural care is a kind of intermediate facility. The people who use this do not live independently, but do not have to be admitted or live in an institution, nursing or care home. Semimural care is provided in the following ways;
- In sheltered housing institutions, patients live as independently as possible, but receive help where necessary,
- Part-time treatment in a psychiatric institution, so one (part) day,
- Day care for mentally handicapped or physically handicapped people.
The characteristic of semimural care is that people live independently (or partly supported) and do not spend the night in the institution where they receive care.
Someone who uses semimural care is, for example, a man with a spinal cord injury as a result of an accident 5 years ago. He ended up in a wheelchair and, with the help of his wife, can still do a lot on his own. They live in an adapted house, but the gentleman has been rejected and therefore cannot work. He does have some hobbies, but in order to occasionally come into contact with other physically disabled people, he goes to day care in a nursing home in his region twice a week. He talks to people there and occasionally takes trips.
Inpatient care
Inpatient care is also called clinical. It is care that (as the word intramural suggests) is provided within the walls of an institution, including;
- Hopital,
- Nursing home,
- Nursing home,
- Institution for the mentally handicapped.
It is care in which people are admitted to this institution and also stay here for several nights.
The pregnant woman whose pregnancy went well, but whose baby still has to be delivered by caesarean section, is a patient who has to deal with intramural care. She is admitted to a hospital, the baby is collected and then she stays in the hospital for a few more days before she can go home again.