Contents of Care and Perception of Home Hospice Nurses Who Work at Visiting Medical Treatment Hospitals

Abstract

Goal: The aim of this study was to examine the perception of nurses who worked at the clinic which proposed home hospice and contents of care to better understand home hospice and enhance home care. Methods: Six nurses who worked at the clinic where proposed visiting medical treatment participated voluntarily. They received one interview for approximately one hour, in which they narrated their perception of home hospice and content of nursing care. The narrative was recorded by an IC recorder and analyzed as contents analysis. This study was approved by the Ethical Board at St. Mary's College. Results: About the content of nursing care, some categories were selected such as "Understanding a patient as a living person," "Examining if a patient and caregiver live at ease," or "Caring for a caregiver accepting a loved one's death and care given at death." Nurses perceived the <Environment of home hospice> theme as "Time and space for listening carefully," the <Care> theme as "Feeling of responsibility and attractiveness of work," the <Introduction and continuation> theme as the "Economics and manpower to continue home hospice," the <Relation between a hospital and a clinic> as a "Required connection between hospitals and home hospice clinics." Conclusion: Visiting medical treatment nurses understand a patient and a family as living people based on intimate relationships, support them as the disease progresses, and connect to a visiting nurse station. They perceived that "patients can enjoy freedom; the nurses had responsibility and strong relationships. They felt the economic or manpower needs to continue and the requirement of a connection between hospitals and home hospice clinics.