Home care for dying children: A nursing model

Abstract

A model is presented for providing home care services for children dying from cancer and for their families. Forty-two families whose children were patients at the Midwest Children's Cancer Center received home care during the first two years of this program. Variations in patient age, diagnosis, or family structure did not preclude successful participation in home care. In all families, the medical and nonmedical financial burdens of inpatient and outpatient hospital care were reduced when the child died at home. Since this program was initiated, terminal care has shifted from hospital-based medical management to nursing support in the home for the majority of children at our cancer center.