Asan Medical Center (AMC) said on Wednesday that it began home medical care services for seriously ill pediatric patients aged under 18.

To do so, the hospital formed a home medical care team consisting of pediatricians, coordinator nurses, and visiting nurses.

When a pediatric patient is deemed to require home care, the attending physician requests the service at the time of discharge or outpatient treatment. Then, the home care team judges the patient’s medical needs and geographical accessibility to determine whether or not to provide home care. 

More specifically, if the patient needs a home ventilator, airway suction, home oxygen therapy, nasal nutrition, enteral nutrition, home intravenous nutrition, or autologous catheterization, and lives within 30 km of AMC in Seoul, the patient is eligible for home medical care.  

Then, the home medical care team for seriously ill children establishes an annual management plan to provide systematic and comprehensive home medical services through in-depth interviews with the guardians and educates and counsels guardians on patient management.

Under the annual care plan, a pediatrician and a visiting nurse visit the patient’s home to provide treatment, rehabilitation, nutrition, psychological counseling, and education. They also regularly make phone calls to monitor the patient’s condition. 

AMC’s home medical care service started as a pilot project of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. 

“Our home medical care for severely ill children will serve as an opportunity to build a tight medical safety net and customized treatment for patients with mobility difficulties and those in vulnerable households,” said pediatrician Ko Tae-sung who is also director of AMC’s Children’s Hospital.

“Through continuous and comprehensive medical services, we will strive to make patients and guardians feel safe at home and feel that they are being protected.”