CARE PROCESS AND SATISFACTION ANALYSIS OF A TRANSMURAL HOME CARE PROGRAM

This study investigated both professional caregiver workload as well a s the patients' and caregivers' satisfaction with a transmural home ca re program. Seventy-nine patients were included in the intervention pr ogram. The specialist nurse coordinator, general practitioner, communi ty nurse providing 'intensive' community care, community nurses provid ing 'standard' community care, and the home helper spent in total an a verage of 7.5, 4.4, 55.6, 55.0, and 112.3 h, respectively, on each pat ient during the care process (mean survival of the 79 patients was 101 .2 days). The 24 h telephone service and transmural home team were con tacted in total 100 and 8 times, respectively. Patient and caregiver s atisfaction with the care provided scored (very) high. Considering thi s acceptable workload and given that the program did not interfere wit h existing standard health care structures, it can be concluded that s uch care may easily be introduced by other hospitals and related prima ry care teams. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.