Asian Nursing Research
Volume 3, Issue 1 , Pages 24-30, March 2009

Evaluation of a Home-Based Hospice and Palliative Care Program in a Community Health Center in Korea

  • Su Hyun Kim

      Affiliations

    • The Institute of Nursing Science, College of Nursing, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
    • ,
  • Bok Yae Chung

      Affiliations

    • The Institute of Nursing Science, College of Nursing, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Professor Bok Yae Chung, College of Nursing, Kyungpook National University, 101 Dongin-dong, Jung-gu, Daegu 700 422, Republic of Korea
    • ,
  • Yu Xu

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, University of Nevada, Los Angeles, USA

Received 24 December 2008; accepted 24 February 2009.

Revised: January 12, 2008

Article Outline

Purpose

To evaluate the effects of a home-based palliative care program, delivered by a community health center in Korea, in terms of quality of life and health care utilization.

Methods

A cross-sectional comparative study was utilized. Data were collected from 30 terminally ill cancer patients who had received palliative care from the community health center and 46 terminally ill cancer patients not receiving palliative care from the center. The measurements used in the study were a Revised Korean version of Quality of Life at the End of Life survey, self-reports on days of hospital admission and the frequency of outpatient care and ER visits during the past 6 months.

Results

The palliative care group had a higher quality of life only in a physical aspect. The palliative care group had a lower frequency of outpatient visits and ER visits in the last 6 months than the nonpalliative group, but no significant statistical differences were found.

Conclusions

A home-based palliative service program delivered by the community health center appears to be an appropriate care model for managing physical symptoms. Reinforcing services for psychosocial and spiritual counseling and encouraging affiliation with free-standing inpatient healthcare providers are warranted. [Asian Nursing Research 2009;3(1):24–30]

Key Words:  home-based palliative care , quality of life , terminally ill patients

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References 

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PII: S1976-1317(09)60013-X

doi:10.1016/S1976-1317(09)60013-X

Asian Nursing Research
Volume 3, Issue 1 , Pages 24-30, March 2009

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