Exploring the establishment of hospice service system integrating medical care and funeral services
Author
Faculty Advisor
Date
2023
Keywords
hospice service system, integration, medical care, funeral services, China
Abstract (summary)
In terms of the development of hospice, 1988 is the first year of the establishment of hospice in mainland China. In 1988, with the initiative and funding of Chinese-American Professor Tianzhong Huang, Tianjin Medical College (now Tianjin Medical University) set up the Tianjin Hospice Center.1 In October 1998, the Shanghai Retired Workers Nanhui Nursing Home was the first hospital in mainland China to provide in-patient care for retired workers who were terminally ill. In October 2017, the National Health Commission designated five pilot cities (Beijing, Changchun, Shanghai, Luoyang, and Deyang) to explore different types of hospice services, strategies of service delivery, and modes of finances. The five pilot cities are located in different parts of China, and among them, there is great variety in population size, economy, educational level, and social development, which means their exploration can be representative and generalized to other parts of China. In May 2019, the second batch of pilot cities, including 71 cities across China, were launched, accelerating the establishment of China’s hospice service system. This article is a proposal for a changed relationship between hospice and funeral services, one which is being piloted in China and for which data will be available in 2023.
The policy of promoting hospice aims at the important goal of improving the quality of death. Generally speaking, the quality of death refers to a comprehensive evaluation of the end-of-life quality of patients and their experience and feelings during the dying process. Likewise, the establishment of China’s hospice system aims at improving the quality of death for its citizens. In Chinese society, life and death are important matters, so the handling of life and death is often not only about the technical level of medical care, but also related to non-technical aspects, such as social work, psychological care, grief counseling, and so forth. These non-technical aspects are intertwined with funeral culture. After the concept of hospice, which originated in Western society and culture, was introduced to China, people strove to learn end-of-life care techniques. However, culturally, people were challenged to enter into necessary conversations around death, the handling of life and death, and the understanding of filial piety. The separate management of life and death that originated from modern Western culture has become a dilemma facing the modern hospice system in the context of Chinese culture.
Publication Information
Wang, Y., Tan, W., & Wang, Y. (2023). Exploring the establishment of hospice service system integrating medical care and funeral services. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 12(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2022.7606
Notes
Item Type
Article
Language
Rights
Attribution (CC BY)
