Palliative and hospice care for adults in the Kharkiv Regional Center of Palliative Medicine "Hospice" in 2016–2022

Abstract

To provide palliative and hospice care in Ukraine, specialized medical facilities have been created, the work of which reflects the advanced capabilities of the organization of medical care, and will also provide an insignificant part the total consumption of the population of certain regions, and the level of such demand covered by other indicators. A communal non-profit enterprise of the Kharkiv region "Regional Center for Palliative Medicine "Hospice"" (hereinafter referred to as Hospice), created in the region in 1999, provides palliative care to critically ill patients, especially an oncology illnesses and degenerative diseases of the nervous system. We carried out an analysis of the activity of the medical sector based on the indicators of personnel security and the characteristics of patients for the period 2016–2022, with the equalization of educational indicators in the military and pre-war hours. It was established that throughout the period of investigation, the Kharkov Hospice experienced a significant staffing shortage, which in an insignificant way increased due to the beginning of a full-scale war, but did not affect the performance of patient care. The mortality rate for the period 2018–2022 ranges from 3–8%, and this is due mainly to patients who are admitted to treatment rather than those who receive medical assistance. Most patients of the Kharkiv Hospice are women aged 70 years or more. The number of patients who were admitted to hospital before the medical emergency changed in 2022, which may be due to demographic problems in the region during the war, the marriage of budgetary funding and personnel shortages, and so on. We provide a large number of patients with comfortable conditions to provide medical care important palliative diagnoses and more important ones. The mortgage demonstrates high adaptability to the minds of wartime, and there is also a slight decline in the categories of patients who need help, with the constant needs of patients in the region. Keywords: lethality, need for PHC, staffing, adaptation to wartime conditions.