Home Health Care Providers' Readiness to Care for Children and Youth With Complex Medical Conditions: A Scoping Review
April 2025, with an update on 29th December 2025. Quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods studies, reviews and relevant grey literature examining provider readiness to care for CYMC (0-18 years) at home were eligible. Two reviewers independently screened and charted data. Results A total of 19 studies were included following screening of 3530 records and 64 full-text reviews. Providers described limited paediatric-specific education, mentorship and supervision, variable training quality and reliance on experiential learning. Readiness was shaped by home conditions, isolation, unclear roles, family dynamics and equipment reliability. No tool measured readiness as a unified construct. Lower readiness was related to safety concerns, readmissions, family stress and provider moral distress. Conclusion Provider readiness appears to be a key safety and quality concern in paediatric home care, shaped by clinical, relational and system-level supports. Future work should clarify the construct, develop measures and test multicomponent strategies combining paediatric-specific education, mentorship, supported practice and service redesign.
Authors
- Adam Mulcaster (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9560-6686)
- Joanne Tay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7140-5214)
- Edward Cruz
- Joanne Ta
- Margaret Saari
- Amanda Rilett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0183-961X)
Institutions
- University of Toronto (CA)
- OPKO Health (Canada) (CA)
- Kingston Health Sciences Centre (CA)
- University of Windsor (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
- Published
- 2026-05-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.70427
- Primary Topic
- Family and Disability Support Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00