The palliative care program in this hospital is among the first few such programs in the capital of the country when it started in beginning of 2017. Dr. Yi Zhu, serving as program advisor, and Mr. Zetao Zhang, serving as onsite program manager, have been closely involved in the early stage of the program to help streamline the program design and establish SOPs in the aspects of:
1. Patient Admission Criteria in Admission to inpatient hospice ward
2. Workflow of care transition between hospice ward and other care settings
3. Hospice Patient Care Management Workflow
4. Patient Assessment and CarePlan Evaluation
5.Family Meeting Setup and Meeting Minutes
6. Process to Start Conversation of DNR and living will
7.Review of Clinical Pathway for palliative care patients
8. Grief counseling service to family members of deceased patients
Working closely with the medical team, Mr.Zetao Zhang has been a critical partner and participated in the day to day operation of the program and hospice ward. He has served as the department administrator to help the overall business development as well as the operation, including mentoring and managing social workers, counselors, chaplains, and trained volunteers.
Today, the inpatient hospice unit has 2 specially decorated rooms with 6 in patient beds, a meeting room, a room that allows family members to have quiet time to say farewell to loved ones (which is a rare luxury in hospitals in China where the resources are so tight).
Between March 2017 to October 2017, the program has served close to 100 patients and their families.
With the support from the hospital management, the program is planning to expand its palliative care counseling service to the entire hospital and affiliated nursing homes, and increase the number of beds in the inpatient hospice unit.
However, the inpatient hospice unit has been operating on loss currently and can't sustain the current operation and to expand services if financial support is still lacking. The team has been furiously reaching out to all possible resources to keep the program running and available to the patients and families.
Our foundation needs more support to sustain the program and make it a model for other hospital palliative care programs inn China to replicate.
Please be an advocate to this program and spread the word to your social circle, and encourage your friends and colleagues to support this program as you have done.
Thank you!
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