Hospital Referrals to a Hospice: Timing of Referrals, Referrers’ Expectations, and the Nature of Referral Information

Abstract

Hospital referrals to Mary Potter Hospice Bien que les dossiers aient ete complets du point de vue medical, ils contenaient tres peu d'information quant a la dimension psycholoqlque, spirituelle et sociale des soins. Le tiers des medecins de l'hopltal ont indique dans Ie dossier qu'ils s'altendaient a une prise en charge complete du malade par 1'« Hospice », Cette attente semble indiquer que Ie nouveau service de soutien en soins palliatifs de l'hcpital devrait encourager les professionnels de la sante a jouer un role plus actif dans les soins dispenses aux mourants. En conclusion, on y discute des rssultats de I'analyse des dossiers en relation avec les buts de ce nouveau service de soutien en soins palliatifs.

The utilization of palliative care in gynecologic oncology patients near the end of life

“…Potential barriers to hospice referral are multifactorial, and include both patient/ family and physician driven factors. Patient and/or family readiness and acceptance of end-of-life may prohibit these difficult discussions, as well as the physician's lack of comfort or knowledge with appropriate hospice referral and timing [9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Palliative sedation at the end of life at a tertiary cancer center

“…It is now commonly recognized that symptom control should be available during the whole course of cancer treatment; in the advanced phase of the disease, palliative care should be delivered together with appropriate antineoplastic therapies [1][2][3] not only through hospice inpatient and home care services but also in the general and tertiary hospital wards where it can be offered with the help of specialized palliative care teams [1,[4][5][6][7][8][9]. At the National Cancer Institute of Milan (NCI), the hospital inpatient palliative care consult team (PCCT) provides symptom control and end-of-life care to dying patients, when requested by the attending services.…”

Implications of a needs assessment intervention for people with progressive cancer: Impact on clinical assessment, response and service utilisation

“…For example, the time required to conduct an assessment [16] and the level of support and training required by staff to use the resources have been reported as potential barriers to using assessment tools [16, 17]. Concerns about increased workload of services resulting from increased referrals have also been reported, with research suggesting that while late referrals to specialist services are often problematic [18–21], referrals that are too early can have both clinical and resource implications [22]. Determining whether the Guidelines and NAT: PD‐C offer an opportunity to improve the quality and appropriateness of care without placing unnecessary burden on health services and the professionals operating within these services is therefore an important consideration.…”