Characteristics and Efforts of Discharge Coordination for Patients with Pediatric Cancer toward End-of-Life—Focus Group Interviews with Staff Involved in Discharge Coordination—

Abstract

In this study, we conducted interviews with staff members who had experience in discharge coordination to clarify the characteristics and efforts of discharge coordination for patients with pediatric cancer toward end-of-life. Focus group interviews were conducted with 11 individuals, including six medical social workers and five nurses (acceptance rate: 84.6%) and a qualitative inductive analysis was conducted. Seven categories were identified as characteristics of discharge coordination for patients with pediatric cancer toward the end-of-life, such as “few home physicians and home health care nurses who could accept terminally ill children” and “a small number of cases and lack of accumulated experience”. Seven categories were identified as efforts of discharge coordination, including “maintaining connections with the community” in three situations: coordination with home physicians and home-visit nursing care, coordination with children and their families, and coordination in hospitals. The number of children who spend their end-of-life days at home is increasing, and we believe that it is necessary to consider expanding the role of pediatric cancer base hospitals in the future, such as collecting information in the community and sharing good practices.