The Development of Palliative Care System for End of Life Patients at Yasothon Hospital

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate outcome of the palliative care system for end of life patients at Yasothon Hospital.

          METHODS: The World Health Organization’s palliative care concept and development model were used as the conceptual ad methodology framework. Samples were purposively selected including 30 hospitalized patients with end of life and 30 primary caregivers, 30 multidisciplinary providers and 30 nurses. Tools used in this study were tools for research implementation and tools for evaluating outcome. These tools were validated by 5 experts working in palliative care and tested for reliability, using

Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The study was conducted from October 2016 to June 2017. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data whereas content analysis was applied for qualitative data.

          RESULTS: The results revealed that the palliative care system for end of life care patients suitable for Yasothon hospital has 4 components: 1) concept of care 2) Structure 3) process of care and 4) follow and evaluate outcomes. After implementing this palliative cares system, the patients were treated with more holistic approach, their reported pain being relieved from sever to moderate about 80.1%, distress and anxiety symptoms were relieved about 88.5 %. The overall satisfaction of family was high (M=4.5, SD±0.49), the health care providers’ satisfaction was also high (M=4.2, SD±0.5). There were 89.5 % of behaviors that nurses were able to do following the guideline of palliative care for end of life care patients.