Shirley P. Y. WONG, Bernard Kong, Jimmy Wong
(Modified Parallel Sessions Speech presented in the 13th Annual Nursing Conference: "Nurses, Always There For You", 2000)
Abstract
In Hong Kong, there was a very rapidly aging population and increased public demand for the proper care of the elders in community. Therefore, the research program of home follow up by nurses was introduced in May 1999. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of nursing intervention through "Geriatric Post Discharge Home Follow Up Service" for a group of discharged elderly clients and their family carers. The findings show that the newly developed service has successfully minimized the rates of Accident & Emergency Department attendance and unplanned hospital admissions. Also, the "Urgent Phone Consultation Service" did help to solve the immediate problems in a relatively short period of time. In the future, the visiting nurses should be given an advance training in community care for the elderly in order to strengthen in their professional knowledge and skills to meet the increasing demands for care and to provide continuous holistic care to the elder persons in the community.
Key words: Advance community care training, direct hotline service, post discharge home follow up service, urgent phone consultation service
Shirley Pui-Yin WONG
RN, Wong Chuk Hang Hospital
Bernard KONG
Consultant, Wong Chuk Hang Hospital
Jimmy WONG
GMN, Wong Chuk Hang Hospital