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

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.