Trajectory of Healthcare Contact Days for Veterans With Advanced Gastrointestinal Malignancy.
Oncologist
; 29(2): e290-e293, 2024 Feb 02.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38016182
ABSTRACT
How and where patients with advanced cancer facing limited survival spend their time is critical. Healthcare contact days (days with healthcare contact outside the home) offer a patient-centered and practical measure of how much of a person's life is consumed by healthcare. We retrospectively analyzed contact days among decedent veterans with stage IV gastrointestinal cancer at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Healthcare System from 2010 to 2021. Among 468 decedents, the median overall survival was 4 months. Patients spent 1 in 3 days with healthcare contact. Over the course of illness, the percentage of contact days followed a "U-shaped" pattern, with an initial post-diagnosis peak, a lower middle trough, and an eventual rise as patients neared the end-of-life. Contact days varied by clinical factors and by sociodemographics. These data have important implications for improving care delivery, such as through care coordination and communicating expected burdens to and supporting patients and care partners.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Veteranos
/
Neoplasias Gastrointestinales
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Oncologist
Asunto de la revista:
NEOPLASIAS
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos