Development of a Seamless Network System for the Care of End of Life Patients in Dong Hong Hae Sub-district Health Promotion Hospital

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to assess the situations on end of life care, and to develop and evaluate a seamless care system for end of life care at Dong Hong Hae Health Promoting Hospital, Ubol Ratchathani Province, Thailand. Action research design was applied to conduct this study. Thirty-two informants were purposively selected from 5 villages of Dong Hong Hae Sub-district. They were 10 patients at the end of life, 10 relatives, and 12 multidisciplinary care team members. Data were collected from October 2014 to June 2015. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with focus group and in-depth interviews, provider and staff satisfaction surveys, and patient satisfaction surveys, as well as the use of seamless networking system for end of life care evaluation form. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were applied for quantitative data and qualitative data analysis, respectively. Results showed that the seamless networking system for end of life care was consisted of (1) guideline of the end of life care, (2) online networking care system, and (3) learning process for health care providers and staff. In addition, a palliative care center was created within the health promoting hospital. Moreover, high satisfaction among relatives of the patients was observed, with the mean score of 4.40±516. The multidisciplinary team members also expressed a high satisfaction score (4.42±0.515). Additionally, 90.0 percent of participants were able to follow the directions of this seamless networking care system. It could be concluded that the seamless networking care system for end of life care helped to improve holistic care and continuing care in the community. It also helped to support and share medical supportive devices among health care centers. The key successful factors of the seamless networking care system were the collaboration among health care providers and the location of Dong Hong Hae Health Promoting Hospital was close to every level of the healthcare institutes. These charateristics could support a sustainable net-working care system development. Therefore, it is recommended to formulate a policy and to implement the seamless networking care system for end of life care to wider communities.