Home Visit

Often, medical students have not experienced the impact of the home environment on the overall health and welfare of their patient. As a result, the Department of Family and Community Medicine, in its Family and Community Medicine Clerkship, requires each student to make a home visit to a patient for whom they have provided some degree of continuous care. Selection of the individual patient and arrangements for the home visit are made with the patient and the family in which they reside. Students collect information concerning occupational and financial resources available for medical expenses from the members of the household and investigate the family's pattern of health care utilization. The students attempt to determine the emotional, physical and economic impact of the illness of the patient on the family. The students also determine the mechanism for decision making processes in the family and the pattern of family member interaction. Finally, the students complete a Home Visit form summarizing their findings relevant to the health and welfare of the patient.