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. 2018 Oct;21(10):1494-1498.
doi: 10.1089/jpm.2017.0696. Epub 2018 May 3.

Impact of a Six-Year Project to Enhance the Awareness of Community-Based Palliative Care on the Place of Death

Nozomu Murakami  1 , Kouichi Tanabe  2 , Tatsuya Morita  3 , Yasunaga Fujikawa  4 , Shiro Koseki  5 , Shinya Kajiura  6 , Kazunori Nakajima  1 , Ryuji Hayashi  6
Affiliations

Impact of a Six-Year Project to Enhance the Awareness of Community-Based Palliative Care on the Place of Death

Nozomu Murakami et al. J Palliat Med. 2018 Oct.

Abstract

Object: To examine the clinical outcomes of a project to enhance the awareness of community-based palliative care (awareness-enhancing project), focusing on home death and care rates in communities.

Methods: A single-center study on community-based intervention was conducted. The awareness-enhancing project, consisting of three intervention approaches (outreach, palliative care education for community-based medical professionals, and information-sharing tool use), was executed, and changes in the home death rate in the community were examined.

Results: The home death rate markedly exceeded the national mean from 2010. In 2012-2013, it was as high as 19.9%, greater than the previous 5.9% (p = 0.001). Through multivariate analysis, the participation of home care physicians and visiting nurses in a palliative care education program, and patients' Palliative Prognostic Index values were identified as factors significantly influencing the home death rate.

Conclusion: The three intervention approaches time dependently increased the home death rate as a clinical outcome in the community, although they targeted limited areas. These approaches may aid in increasing the number of individuals who die in their homes.

Keywords: community-based palliative care; multiprofessional team care; outreach; palliative home care.

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Conflict of interest statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Figures

<b>FIG. 1.</b>
FIG. 1.
Time-dependent changes in the home death rate.
<b>FIG. 2.</b>
FIG. 2.
Patient classification flowchart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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