Authors (including presenting author) :
Mau KY(1), Chan WY(1), Ho KY(1), Chan YM(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Palliative Care Unit, Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital
Introduction :
In order to provide continuity of care to patients diagnosed with terminal cancer or end-stage renal failure and their families, the Palliative Care Unit of Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital delivers 24-hour coverage service as an indispensable source of support. In addition to home care visits, direct admission for in-patient care and out-patient clinic, the 24-hour hotline consultative service is also introduced to the home care patients and their caregivers to facilitate them to live at home as long as possible. Through 24-hour palliative care hotline consultative service, they could access ongoing professional information, assistance, and specific support. Calls would be answered by on-duty palliative care nurses including home care nurses or ward nurses who are experienced in patient care to meet patients’ information needs, provide emotional support and ensure effective communication.
Objectives :
In this project, we try to explore the characteristics of people calling the OLMH 24-hour palliative care hotline and their needs for service, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of the hotline service. The purpose of this project about OLMH 24-hour palliative care consultative hotline service is as follows: 1. To analyze the demographic profile of callers of the hotline service. 2. To explore the reasons of consulting the hotline service. 3. To examine the outcome after consulting the hotline service. 4. To conduct satisfaction survey of the hotline service..
Methodology :
The project is conducted for three months. Verbal consent will be obtained for data collection and satisfactory survey. Data from telephone calls in palliative care hotline consultative service will be collected for analysis. The data include date and time of the call; caller’s demographics detail and diagnosis; reasons for the call; and outcome following recommendation by palliative care nurse. Those who refused to participate will receive consultative service as usual without any data to be collected for analysis. Besides, satisfactory questionnaire survey will be conducted in a convenient sample of 50 outpatients and inpatients or caregivers having experience in calling the palliative care hotline. The content includes perceived attitude and professionalism of staff; effectiveness of the service; helpfulness of the recommendations; action to seek medical attention without hotline consultative service; and their needs or expectation on the service through open comments.
Result & Outcome :
A total of 289 call log collected from June to September 2019. The result showed that 48.5% of call on non-office hour. 92.4% of calls were related to cancer patient and they mostly call for symptom control (48.4%) and pass on information to related home care nurse (30.1%). After giving recommendation, about 48.1% cases could pass on to home care team for further management and 28% cases no further medical attention is needed. Only 27 patients needed admit to palliative care ward and 18 patients needed attend AED after hotline consultation. For the satisfactory survey, total 35 questionnaires received. Most of them (97.1%) are satisfied or strongly satisfied on the attitude; professionalism; response rate; and overall satisfaction. 97.1% of respondents also think that the recommendation from the call is useful. If there is no 24-hour palliative care hotline consultative service, all of them will attend AED or seek advice from general practitioner or private sector.
