2021 Volume 21 Issue 4 Pages 210-214
While mortality from cancer is predicted to rise in higher level than the national average, there is no palliative care hospital or a hospice in our medical service area. The shortage of medical resource for palliative care is a serious problem in provincial towns, where aging and depopulation have been far progressing.
We have been actively applying liaison critical paths for cancer therapy to promote regional medical alliances. Based on this experience, we developed an original liaison critical path for palliative care and put it into practice in April 2016. The path is constructed to respond quickly to patients' pain and anxiety by coordinating care through the alliance.
Appling it on eighteen advanced cancer patients, the cooperation with each family doctor was completed between two to 27 months (median four months) with no discontinuation in medical services.
Sixteen of the subjects died from progression of cancer. One of the decedents could spend his final days at home with care given by a cooperating family doctor, and three of them were given terminal care at a clinic.
Liaison critical path for palliative care will be one of useful tools to create local care cooperation even in the provincial towns, and to improve the end-of-life care at home for cancer patients.
