中期照護的護理角色與未來發展——護理新契機

New Opportunities for Nursing in the Future of Intermediate Care

我國政府為因應人口高齡化、住院診斷關連群以及十年長期照顧計畫的政策推動下，中期照護已開始受到關注。中期照護為急性照護與長期照護之間最好的連結之橋樑，它將成為未來醫療領域的另一種新興的服務模式。透過中期照護的服務提供，可使個案在所提供的支持性環境，促進功能回復並返回社區。本文從中期照護之緣起、中期照護之定義、中期照護之服務內涵、中期照護之服務模式以及中期照護之相關研究之國內外相關經驗，提出中期照護之護理角色以及未來台灣中期照護發展的護理意涵。期望未來透過學術界、政府政策以及產業界的攜手合作，中期照護能成為台灣未來護理專業角色延伸及擴展的新契機。

Intermediate care is an important focus of the Taiwan Government, domestic diagnosis groups, and the Ten-Year Long-Term Care Project. The objective of intermediate care is to bridge acute and long-term care in order to deliver more comprehensive healthcare to the population. It is an emerging healthcare service model. Intermediate care and a supportive environment should facilitate the functional recovery of patients and their successful return to the community. This article first describes the origins of intermediate care, its definitions and components, service models and related research. It then proposes the role of nursing in intermediate care and implications for nursing in the future of domestic intermediate care policy. We hope that academia, the government and health industry can work together to facilitate intermediate care in order to extend and expand nursing roles.