JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the utility of home-based healthcare due in part to social-distancing requirements, curtailment of elective hospital procedures, and patient apprehension of the healthcare setting. The pandemic particularly accentuated the integral role of paid caregivers in caring for patients with chronic health conditions, and given the paradigm-shift towards community and value-based healthcare models, home healthcare providers are likely to play an even greater role as members of the care team. However, despite the increasingly prominent role that paid caregivers are assuming in healthcare, especially for chronically ill patients, in our experience as medical students, we have very little exposure to these members of the care team, with most interactions occurring in brief, chance encounters. Here, we advocate for more intentional exposure for medical students to paid caregivers in this formative stage of our training so that we are better equipped to integrate paid caregivers in the care team and include them in our clinical decision making in the future.