Impact of a Palliative Care Service on In-Hospital Mortality in a Comprehensive Cancer Center

Abstract

Increased involvement by the palliative care service in the care of decedent patients was associated with a decreased MICU mortality and no change in overall hospital mortality rate or inpatient length of hospital stay.

End-of-Life Care for Hospitalized Patients with Lung Cancer: Utilization of a Palliative Care Service

“…3,12,13 Studies using a variety of designs for measuring clinical metrics such as pain and symptom scores, patient satisfaction, ICU mortality, or costs of care have shown benefits of inpatient palliative care teams. 12,17,18,21 The present study does not report prevalence and severity of pain and symptoms or the success of the PCS at ameliorating these complications of lung cancer. However, further standardization of symptom assessment is a goal for the PCS.…”

“…17,18 Palliative care consultation facilitates earlier and more frequent hospice referral and lower hospital mortality. [19][20][21] Hospice care offers an alternative to life-prolonging inpatient care and is associated with better symptom control, improved patient and family satisfaction, and feelings of respect and inclusion in care decisions. 13,19 Hospice utilization by patients with lung cancer ranges from 25% to 30%, a rate typical of most cancer types, yet significantly greater than patients with non-cancer diagnoses.…”

Palliative Care Consultations in Patients With Cancer: A Mayo Clinic 5-Year Review

“…6 Hospital-based palliative care consultation services have demonstrated improved physical and psychological symptom management, caregiver well-being, emotional and spiritual support, physician-patient communication, and markedly superior overall patient and family satisfaction. 7 Previous studies have also found that inpatient palliative care teams frequently identify unrecognized symptoms and unmet needs 3,[8][9][10] and palliative care consultations are associated with a lower likelihood of dying in the intensive care unit, 11 less use of intensive care units, 12,13 and substantial decreases in health care costs. [13][14][15] These factors were a major impetus for the development of our Palliative Care Consultation Service (PCCS) at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN).…”

Involvement of Palliative Care Services Strongly Predicts Place of Death in Belgium

“…The findings of the studies that do exist are equivocal, probably due to the heterogeneity of palliative care services, study populations, settings, and designs. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Moreover, few studies have evaluated the relationship between involvement of palliative care services and place of death considering primary health care use, and none have evaluated the impact of a complete palliative care model, including all palliative care services for all patients in all health care settings, on place of death in a particular country.…”