Management of liver cirrhosis between primary care and specialists

Table 5 Features of home assistance in patients with liver cirrhosis

Advantages

Decreased number of hospitalization and re-admissions

Decreased costs of treatments

Assist the patient within his familiar comfort

Criteria of eligibility

Identification of a clinical status allowing home stay

Identification of priority criteria

Presence of a valid family support or of an active aid system

Selection criteria

Use the Karnofsky Performance Status1 for patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis and limited self-sufficiency (set to < 50%)

¹The Karnofsky Performance Scale Index allows patients to be classified as to their functional impairment. This scale is often used in the primary care setting to assess the prognosis in individual patients and to decide a treatment; the lower the score, the worse the survival.