Basic indicators of community support program treatment outcome as well as the degree to which the programs conform to practice guidelines for major depression are evaluated. Hospitalization rates subsequent to treatment are measured, and the correlation between hospitalization rates and practice patterns is determined. Data sets that describe outpatient and inpatient services over a 4-year period, but do not include common person identifiers were analyzed using probabilistic population estimates. Results indicate that there is substantial variation among the community programs in practice patterns and hospitalization rates, and the two are negatively correlated.

No abstract

Following these changes, we looked at the deaths in June 2019. 55 patients died. 33 (60%) patients had a discharge summary completed. 100% of patients who died on the ward with the 'Bereavement Box' had a discharge summary. With these interventions, there was a 100% increase in discharge summaries being completed. However, there are still further improvements to be made. We plan to roll the 'Bereavement boxes' out to all wards, make an automatically generated notification sent to the GP upon a patient's death and roll out Medical Examiners within the Trust. We hope that these further interventions will ensure that all patients will have discharge summaries completed and there will be improved continuity of care.

Results The search identified 6,611 unique citations. Further references may be identified by hand-searching references of included articles and contacting authors. Title and abstract screening has identified 278 potentially relevant papers so far. Conclusions Full text review of relevant citations is underway. The review will be completed by autumn 2019. The results will document how ED has been evaluated in this setting and pinpoint what elements may prove most effective and in what context. This will inform future research in the development and assessment of ED-based psychotherapeutic interventions in the palliative care setting.