Korea is a superaged society with patients waiting for doctors at every home. Warnings against the fastest-aging country worldwide are not enough. It's time for someone to go out into the field. Likewise, there are growing calls for enhancing home healthcare capacity.

In response to these concerns, the "Avengers" of homecare will gather in one place. For a wide range of people, from those who want to know the basic concept of home healthcare to medical professionals preparing to make their first visit, walk-in physicians and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) have teamed up.

From Nov. 14 to 16, SNUBH will hold the “Home Healthcare Education Program” for the second half-year to strengthen home healthcare capabilities. The program is aimed at those who want to practice home healthcare, ranging from primary healthcare providers to public healthcare institutions, including district health centers.

The program will be held separately for doctors, nurses, and social workers. It is the first training program in Korea that combines theory and practice across the fields involved in home healthcare. The first half-year program in April received a great response, so the organizers expanded it for the second half-year.

In particular, the physician telemedicine program, newly established for the second half-year program, features experts active in-home visits as instructors. Dr. Kim Chang-oh of Health House, who promoted the importance of telemedicine as the first clinician in Korea to specialize in telemedicine, and Dr. Song Dae-hoon of Yonsei Song Internal Medicine Clinic in Paju, north of Seoul, who established a successful business model by establishing a center dedicated to telemedicine, will also serve as lecturers, imparting practical skills necessary for medical staff tackling telemedicine.

SNUBH plans to expand its telemedicine education program as a teaching hospital and strive to establish a standardized telemedicine education protocol. Korea Biomedical Review met with Kim Tae-woo, a professor of ophthalmology who oversees the Telemedicine Support Center, to hear about the importance of the telemedicine education project and its future direction.

Question: Why did SNUBH create a home healthcare "education" program?

Answer: There were education programs dealing with the theory of telemedicine, but we focused on “practice.” It is one thing to make home visits for treatment in theory, but it's quite another to do them. When they walk into a house and see a patient, physicians may not feel the environment as familiar as their clinics. How to greet patients, build rapport, and get the information you need to treat them are obvious as a doctor, but these can be new and challenging when sitting in a patient's home. You must also navigate the patient’s living environment and work with local governments and welfare organizations. We paid attention to this point.

Q: The lineup of instructors is impressive. Most of the names are those you've heard before if you're only slightly interested in home care. You could call them the "Avengers" of home healthcare.

A: This lineup became possible because the director, Professor Lee Hye-jin, has a wide network. Professors working in home healthcare give lectures so that you can receive intensive training. Doctors, nurses, and social workers who have started home visits will be taught what roles they should play in the field and practice. To our knowledge, SNUBH is the only institution to offer such a program that includes hands-on training across the various professions involved in home healthcare.

Q: Why is SNUBH so active in the field of home healthcare?

A: In fact, home healthcare is difficult for university hospitals. To be more honest, we are busy seeing patients who come to the hospital, and we don't have time to leave the hospital. So we thought that instead of approaching home healthcare as a care provider, our role should be a teaching hospital to contribute to the smooth running of the out-of-hospital home healthcare ecosystem. To this end, we are looking to the field a priori to suggest what models are desirable and what the right approach is. We're not looking at it as a new way to earn money, as some people might think. Our goal is to expand the home health education system, not the provision of treatment services.

Q: Does the expansion of the education system include certification or qualification business?

A: The certification and qualification business is not something that SNUBH can do by itself, and it seems premature to go to that level. However, even if we don't go as far as certification, it is necessary to complete essential training and establish qualification requirements. Of course, to lead home healthcare in the private sector, it must become a profitable business. However, I think home healthcare should be approached with more public awareness. Currently, the main targets of home healthcare are older adults living alone and the economically and socially marginalized, so a balanced approach is more important. To maintain this balance, it is worth considering how to qualify home healthcare participants after completing a basic course.

Q: Are there roles for university hospitals in home health besides education?

A: It's going to be the primary care organizations that will lead the way in home healthcare, and there are some things they will find it difficult to do. For instance, creating a standard for home healthcare is one of them. Take Japan as an example, and even dental treatment has now become possible by house calls. I heard they are actively improving medical equipment for home visits. It is difficult for individual doctors to improve dental equipment or organize rehabilitation programs tailored to the home visit environment. This is where university hospitals come in. It is to study and test the equipment and programs needed to make home healthcare possible and to educate and disseminate them based on accumulated experience. This process can be called standardization. Of course, SNUBH will not and cannot do everything alone. We must put our heads together, think about it, and share our experiences and knowledge.

The role of university hospitals is also to provide referrals for emergency and severe cases that are difficult for primary medical institutions to handle alone. There are many concerns about how to make such a system work smoothly.

Q: You are an ophthalmologist. What's the future of ophthalmology in home healthcare?

A: As in other fields, ophthalmology is becoming increasingly important for telemedicine. Thanks to the miniaturization of examination equipment, simple treatments, such as check-ups and dry eyes, can be carried out at home. In the future, if the equipment is further developed, it will be possible to treat diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and macular degeneration.

Ophthalmology is one of the most urgent areas for home healthcare. Patients with limited vision cannot visit a doctor independently without help. It's time to explore more possibilities for ophthalmology as a home healthcare sector.

Q: What is the goal of SNUBH as a “home healthcare teaching hospital'?

A: As a central national hospital, it is our responsibility to expand the social safety net and build a healthcare system worthy of developed countries. We want to contribute to creating a system that provides good medical care not only for patients who visit SNUBH but also for patients who cannot come to our hospital.

All patients should be able to enjoy a good treatment environment even if they don't come to the hospital. Our goal is also to prevent medical problems that are inevitably caused by not coming to the hospital. You should chase a problem after it occurs. We must train a good workforce in advance and build the capacity to prepare appropriately. By doing so, we hope to contribute to preparing for the upcoming super-elderly society without disruption.

Q: Lastly, a word of advice to the participants of this home healthcare training program.

A: The SNUBH program is focused on preparing for the upcoming demand for home healthcare and creating a site that benefits patients and involves multiple participants. It was not just about providing medical services but about looking at what patients need to maintain their quality of life holistically and preparing for it together. We hope those interested in home healthcare who want to participate will join us.