Development of a clinical protocol for home hospice care for Koreans

As the Korean government's recognition of the importance of hospice service grows, the government has initiated a variety of hospice services in Korea. Each hospice organization has shown a significant difference in its health care delivery methods, constitution and care content. Developing a clinical protocol is essential for establishing standardized hospice services. A preliminary protocol was drawn up by examining the records of terminal patients (n=541) in a home hospice organization while elucidating the health problems as well as classifying them through the Home Health Care Classification (HHCC), and by reviewing the relevant nursing interventions and medical treatments in the literature concerning the clinical protocols. Korea's leading hospice specialty groups participated in four rounds of content validity verification processes in order to establish a protocol. A guideline was developed through a team approach, integrating the opinions of doctors, nurses, ministers, volunteers, patients' families, nutritionists and pharmacists. Eighteen health problems and a total of 223 interventions (173 major treatments and nursing interventions, and 50 optional interventions) were included in the final clinical protocol. This study is expected to contribute to the overall qualitative improvement of home hospice care and the subsequent shortening of documentation time. Evaluation tools and a regulatory feedback system need to be developed in order to maintain consistent evaluation procedures based on the continuous promotion and use of the protocol.