Avoidable emergency department visits among palliative care cancer patients: novel insights from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

BACKGROUND: Several studies emerging from developed countries have highlighted a significant number of potentially avoidable emergency department (ED) visits by cancer patients during the end-of-life period. However, there is a paucity of information from developing nations regarding palliative care practices and the utilization of the ED by palliative care patients. Herein, we aim to characterize ED admissions among patients receiving palliative care at our tertiary center in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study evaluating ED visits amongst adult patients with advanced cancer who were receiving treatment under the palliative care department. This study took place over a period of 12 months from July 2021 through to July 2022. Three palliative care specialist physicians independently and blindly reviewed each patient's ED visits and determined whether the visit was avoidable or unavoidable. RESULTS: A total of 243 patients were included in the final analysis, of which 189 (78.1%) patients had unavoidable visits and 53 (21.9%) patient visits were classified as avoidable. A significantly higher proportion of breast cancer patients presented with unavoidable admissions (14.3% vs. 3.8%, P = 0.037) compared to other cancer types. The incidence of dyspnea (23.8% vs. 5.7%, P < 0.001) and fevers/chills (23.3% vs. 5.7%, P = 0.005) was significantly higher in patients with unavoidable visits. Patients with avoidable visits had a significantly greater proportion of visits for dehydration (13.2% vs. 2.1%, P = 0.002). Notably, although hospital stay was significantly longer in the unavoidable group (P = 0.045), mortality for palliative care patients-regardless of whether their ED visit was avoidable or unavoidable-was not statistically different (P=-0.069). CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the largest and most comprehensive study from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East providing insights into the utilization of palliative care services in the region and the propensity of advanced cancer patients towards visiting the ED. Future studies ought to explore interventions to reduce the frequency of avoidable ED visits.

Reducing Futile Acute Care Services for Terminally Ill Patients With Cancer: The Dignity Project.

PURPOSE: Patients with terminal diseases frequently undergo interventions that are futile and may be detrimental to their quality of life. We conducted a quality improvement project aimed to reduce the utilization of futile acute care services (ACSs) for patients with cancer treated with a palliative intent. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team reviewed the records of terminally ill patients with cancer who died between November 2017 and May 2018, during their admission at our institution. The review aimed to assess the magnitude of improper utilization of ACSs and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Lack of timely documentation of the goals of care (GOCs) was the main reason for this problem. We defined timely documentation as the availability of electronic documentation of patients' GOC before the need for ACSs. Interventions were implemented to improve the process; postintervention data were captured and compared with the baseline data. RESULTS: After the delivery of staff education and the implementation of mandatory documentation of the GOCs in the healthcare electronic record system, the timely documentation of the GOCs for patients with a palliative intent increased significantly from 59% at baseline to 83% in the postintervention phase. The impact of this intervention led to a decrease in admissions to the ICU from 26% to 12% and an estimated annual cost saving of $777,600 in US dollars. CONCLUSION: Our interventions resulted in improved documentation of the GOCs and decrease in the utilization of ACSs including ICU admissions and the associated cost.