The Development of a Service Model for the Geriatric Clinic at Phu Ruea Hospital, Loei Province
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Abstract
Thailand officially became a complete aged society in 2024, with the elderly population accounting for 20.70% of the total population. Phu Ruea District, Loei Province, has an even higher proportion of elderly residents at 22.3%. However, the geriatric clinic service system at Phu Ruea Hospital faced significant challenges, including fragmented service delivery, lack of comprehensive health screening and assessment, and inadequate systematic linkage between hospital and community services. This study aimed to develop a geriatric clinic service model through stakeholder participation and to evaluate outcomes regarding satisfaction and service model appropriateness. Methods This research and development (R&D) study applied Donabedian's quality of care framework integrated with Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) principles and the Continuity of Care concept. The study was conducted over 52 weeks within the Phu Ruea District health network, covering seven subdistrict health promotion hospitals. The sample consisted of 80 participants, comprising 50 elderly individuals and their caregivers and 30 multidisciplinary healthcare professionals. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis.
Results: The developed service model comprised four key components: establishing a fast-track service channel, enhancing care quality through an eight-discipline multidisciplinary team, developing staff competencies, and building collaborative networks with communities. Elderly satisfaction increased across all dimensions, with service staff receiving the highest scores (Mean = 4.67) and service processes showing the greatest improvement from 2.33 to 4.33. Multidisciplinary professionals rated the service model appropriateness at high to highest levels (Mean = 4.13-4.47), with the referral and follow-up system receiving the highest score.
Conclusion: The developed geriatric clinic service model demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing holistic and continuous care quality. This model can serve as a prototype for other community hospitals to accommodate Thailand's aging society.
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This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which allows others to share the article with proper attribution to the authors and prohibits commercial use or modification. For any other reuse or republication, permission from the journal and the authors is required.References
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