Home visit patients and family with cleft lip and palate

The operating process for cleft care, requires continuity of care involving a multidisciplinary team. When the patient goes to hospital to receive surgery, parents and family feel nervous about their children and need to know how to take care of their children afterwards. Some patients will have operations into their teenage years. The scar on their face will give them low self esteem and feelings of isolation. Patients and family need information and encouragement. Home visit should be a good process to convey information and encourage patients and family.

Of this project were to convey information and encourage patients and family and to evaluate patients/family problems and needs as well as to promote networking.

A team meeting took place to decide about the families to be visited. After selection the family nurse coordinator contacted them by telephone, as well as contacting the primary care unit near to the family and then travelled to visit the family. The collected data was by questionnaire, observation and in-depth interview.

2 families were visited before and after operation, 8 families were visited 2-3 days after operation. The families have better knowledge, more confidence and can take better care of their children. Unfortunately health care professionals in primary care unit were too busy to join with the team.

Home visit is a good process to convey information and find patients and family problems/needs because they are more relaxed than in hospital, so can better understand and talk more easily. The families are happy to see the home visit team and are more confident to take care of their children after visit.