ObjectiveDevelopment of initiatives to reduce hospitalisations is a major focus of healthcare planning. Strengthening the community with municipal acute care teams or units is a newly implemented Danish initiative aimed at preventing hospitalisations and supporting more flexible services. This study aims to describe patients treated by a municipal acute care team and to explore patients’ and caregivers’ experiences with at-home treatment.DesignA mixed-method study consisting of descriptive statistics of patients treated by an acute care team, and quantitative and qualitative data from follow-up telephone questionnaires with patients and caregivers.SettingThe acute care team, ‘Acute Team Odense’ (ATO), in the Odense Municipality, Denmark.ParticipantsPatients treated by ATO and their caregivers. ATO treated 3231 patients (5676 contacts) in the period of 2018–2019.ResultsAverage number of new contacts per day was 7.8, and the median treatment-length was 1 day. Patients were referred by various healthcare providers and most often by general practitioners, municipal staff and hospital staff. The median age of the patients was 80 years, and 20% were independent before the treatment. In total, 787/5676 contacts received at-home intravenous therapy, which corresponded to 3.6 hospital beds saved per day. The questionnaires were completed by 307/478 patients and 168/254 caregivers. Most respondents stated they would prefer at-home treatment in future similar situations as it enabled them to maintain their lives. Several respondents also experienced that ATO avoided hospitalisations or reduced hospital stays, which was described as a relief.ConclusionATO was frequently used, indicating the demand for community-based acute healthcare. The patients and caregivers experienced that this solution avoided hospitalisations and allowed them to maintain their lives, and this was described as less burdensome. As a result of these findings, this initiative has been continued with an ongoing focus on searching for possibilities aimed to prevent hospitalisations.

Objective: Strengthening primary healthcare with highly qualified nurses in acute care units or teams is a new Danish initiative intended to detect acute diseases and the deterioration of chronic diseases and to develop treatment for outpatients. This study explores healthcare professionals' experiences with this initiative. Design: Qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in 2019-2020. Analysis was conducted with a systematic text condensation. Setting: This study is based on an acute care team in one Danish municipality called Acute Team Odense (ATO). ATO delivers acute nursing in patients' own homes (including nursing homes) in collaboration with different healthcare professionals. Subjects: Individual interviews with general practitioners (GPs) (n ¼ 15), five focus-group interviews with nurses and nursing assistants from the municipality (n ¼ 19) and one focus-group interview with staff from the emergency department (ED) (n ¼ 10). Main outcomes: Experiences of different healthcare professionals' experiences with ATO. Results: In general, all of the participants were very satisfied with the new acute care team and the cross-sectorial possibilities. The GPs usually referred ATO to assessments in which paraclinical equipment, competencies, accessibility, response time and communication were important. The municipal nurses and nursing assistants tended to use ATO if they needed second opinions or acute nurse assistance. The ED most often used ATO to assist with intravenous therapy after an ED visit. All participants reported that ATO increased what could be assessed and treated in patients' homes, which is central to preventing unnecessary hospitalisations. Conclusions: ATO created new possibilities in patient's homes which potentially might prevent unnecessary hospitalisations. KEY POINTSAcute care units or teams are mandatory in Danish health care, but limited knowledge in the area is found. Healthcare professionals found that the acute care teams provided new possibilities to assess and treat patients in their own homes. Healthcare professionals experienced that the acute care team potentially prevented hospitalisations by fast clinical nurse assessments with paraclinical tests.