engleski

Alzheimer`s disease – resource providing and economics for ensuring care of patients in palliative medicine

Aim was to demonstrate possible ways of organizing and providing resources in palliative care of Alzhemier`s disease patients in Croatia, using health economics and supporting centre. Analysis of present hospital and other capacities, epidemiology, current health approaches, recommendations based on real life and secondary data. Results demonstrate that there is a significant amount of unnecessary hospitalizations making patients spend too many days institutionalized and quite low quality and lack of palliative care, whereas the numbers from secondary data analysis indicate that hospital capacities and possibilities may provide high quality hospital palliative care. The research revealed numerous potential sources of financing and providing resources for palliative care for Alzheimer`s disease patients. Such are insurance companies (basic, additional, private) ; philanthropy and humanitarian actions ; volunteers ; donations in money, services, drugs and goods ; taxes (state, county and city) ; foundations, real estate ; scientific, professional and marketing projects ; sponsorships, bank loans etc. Unfortunately most of these sources are inadequately or totally unused or unrecognized. On the other hand, numerous organizational and direct health costs in Alzheimer`s disease palliative care come in terminal disease phase, additionally burdening life of patients and their families: facility, overhead, various services, insurance, material and drug, food, human labour (professionals and volunteers) and transport costs. All of these indicate that palliative care should be based on a non profit model. Such model should be supported by the work of a national centre for palliative care and network of county centres, needed to gather, organize and provide resources for palliative care. It is necessary to completely redesign organizational approach in Alzheimer`s disease palliative care. Such redesign should be funded from various resources, whereas one national centre with counties network for palliative care would efficiently organize and rearrange capacities, potentially help acute hospitals, palliative hospices and carers in family and community, enabling higher quality in care of terminal patients with less needed number of doctors and nurses.

Alzheimer`s disease; resource providing; economics; palliative medicine

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