Title:

IDENTIFYING CARE ELEMENTS FOR PALS PROVIDED BY PERSONAL ASSISTANTS

Abstract:
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Background

PALS in Japan are provided with government funded home care services since 2000.  Increased demand of non-professional personal assistants without any medical qualification are therefore urgently needed to provide home care services, which include tracheotomy suctioning at a patientsf home.  With that, there arises a need of identifying a standard care among these unskilled caregivers.

Objective

We aimed to identify the standard daily care for PALS provided by personal assistants.

Method

We observed four PALS who have been receiving HMV for more than one year at their homes in Tokyo. A researcher recorded the frequency and situations of each care service or needs of the PALS on a minute basis throughout a day. Care service included respiratory management When there were more than two assistants caring for a PALS at the same time, the total amount of care and time was calculated. The observations were recorded on a piece of standard form. We then sorted the data into professional work and non-professional work.

Result

The total time of respiratory management for one male PALS was 55 minutes a day.  Three female PALS needed tracheotomy suctioning once or twice an hour, excluding sleeping hours; the total time ranged from 177 -200 minutes a day.  In addition, gto keep a close watchh was the most needed care which required a total time of 171-527 minutes a day. gTo keep a close watchh was to closely observe the signs of communication, tracheotomy suctioning, and easing the care receiverfs pain by a proper means. Although personal assistants can provide some medical care including tracheotomy suctioning, because of a lack of proper training, they still need daily observations from medical professionals at care receiverfs home.

Conclusion

Low cost long-term home care can be successfully achieved by utilizing care services of personal assistants who have proper training from medical professionals.