Integrating palliative medicine specialists into intensive care was associated with a significant increase in use of palliative medicine services and a significant decrease in ICU length of stay for referred patients without a significant increase in mortality. The screening tool effectively identified patients at high risk of death. Given the high mortality rate of the unreferred patients, the criteria could be more widely adopted by ICU physicians to consider expanding palliative medicine referrals.

The palliative care order set implemented at our community teaching hospital significantly improved adherence to accepted palliative care treatment principles for patients at the end of life.

CMO orders alone were insufficient for redirecting changes in care at the end-of-life.

Background. Historically, hospice use by veterans has lagged behind that of non-veterans. Little is known about hospice use by veterans at a population level.Research Objectives. To determine whether veteran and non-veteran hospice users differ by demographics, primary diagnosis, location of care, and service utilization.

No abstract