Nursing Service System for Palliative Care In Tertiary Hospitals *

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore a nursing service system for palliative care in tertiary hospitals using the Delphi technique.  There were 5 groups of experts, totaling 23: 4 doctors or medical instructors, 8 administrative nurses or operational nurses, 4 nursing instructors or nursing academics; 3 experts in health policy and 4 religious leaders and lawyers. The methodologies can be divided into 3 phases: interview of the experts about the nursing service system for palliative care, construction of a questionnaire based on the results of the interview so that the experts can rank the importance of the questions and analysis of the data by using means, quartile range and adding the answers obtained from the second phase so that each expert can go through the answers one more time. The information obtained from the third phase was analyzed.  Information with a mean greater than 3.50 and Interquatile range less than 1.00 was included in this study.

It was found that the experts agreed with the nine aspects of the nursing service system for palliative care in tertiary hospitals and the sixty-one items, as follows: 1) Environmental management  5 items. 2) Interdisciplinary team management 6 items. 3) Performance improvement for personnel and career 7 items. 4) Holistic care in line with the cultural background of patient and family 9 items. 5) Pain management with drug use and non drug use 7 items. 6) Communication and co-ordination between the interdisciplinary team 8 items. 7) Discharge plans and patient transfer 7 items. 8) Law and ethics in taking care of patients 6 items.  9) Expenditure management 6 items.