Abstract
Cancer is one of the important health care issues and has been the major leading cause of mortality in Taiwan. Hospice care is another medical option other than the curative treatments for terminal cancer patients. It promotes patient/family-centered care that is palliative, holistic and interdisciplinary. About 60 % of cancer patients preferred that home as the place of death. One of the major approaches of hospice care is to allow the terminal cancer patient to remain at home as long as possible, and using the hospital based care when the situation is absolutely necessary. The fear of not having enough support networks in the skills and knowledge of care at home is one of the most common reasons for terminal cancer patient with stable condition who refused discharge from hospital in Taiwan. The purpose of this study was to apply the telehospice system for the home-based telehospice care. The system had integrated electronic medical records, information network communication and biosensor technology together. The study provided the innovation telehospice application which replaced the traditional home care but allowed the terminal cancer patients and their caregivers to receive additional support through this innovation service. The results indicated that the home based telehospice application did add some benefits to the patients and families who participated in this study.
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Acknowledgments
This research work was partially supported by the Telehealth project in National Taiwan University funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs R.O.C. (98-EC-17-A-19-S2-0134). The authors wish to thank all of the patients and families who participated in this research for their supports and valuable feedbacks. We also wish to acknowledge the support from the whole members of the project and the hospice care team in National Taiwan University Hospital and the nurses and other healthcare workers in Hospice Ward 6A for their collaborations and in caring for families and support given to this research.
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Su, MJ., Hsieh, YJ., Yao, CA., Lai, FP., Liao, MH., Chen, HS. (2013). The Innovation Telehospice System in Taiwan: A Home-Based Hospice Care Service Application. In: Han, YH., Park, DS., Jia, W., Yeo, SS. (eds) Ubiquitous Information Technologies and Applications. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 214. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5857-5_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5857-5_6
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