Effects of hospice-shared care on terminal cancer patients in Taiwan: A hospital-based observational study.
Eur J Oncol Nurs
; 69: 102525, 2024 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38340644
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To assess how hospice-shared care (HSC) affected the likelihood of aggressive medical treatments and the life quality among terminal cancer patients.METHODS:
In the first part, a cohort of 160 late-stage cancer patients who died in non-hospice wards were identified to review their charts in their last 22 days before death. In the second part, a total of 19 late-stage cancer patients with clear consciousness admitted to non-hospice wards were identified to investigate their quality of life for the final 2 weeks before death.RESULTS:
The utilization rate of HSC was 55.6%. Among these, the rate for late referral to HSC (≤7 days before death) was 43.8% and early referral (>3 months before death) was 5.6%. Compared to the non-HSC group, in the last few weeks of life, the HSC group underwent lower incidence of chemotherapy use (10.1% vs. 39.4%, p < .001), signed do-not-resuscitate orders (0% vs. 21.1%, p < .001), emergency room visits (13.5% vs. 40.8%, p < .001), intensive care unit admission or ventilator use (2.2% vs. 11.3%, p = .019), and endotracheal intubation (2.2% vs. 9.9%, p = .038). However, the quality of life did not appear to have obvious differences between the two groups (p > .05).CONCLUSION:
In Taiwan, late HSC referral in terminal cancer patients is common. HSC is associated with a reduced likelihood of aggressive medical utilization. However, the effect of HSC in improving patients' quality of life in the last few weeks needs to be further evaluated.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Terminal Care
/
Hospice Care
/
Hospices
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Observational_studies
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Eur J Oncol Nurs
/
Eur. j. oncol. nurs
/
European journal of oncology nursing
Journal subject:
ENFERMAGEM
/
NEOPLASIAS
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Taiwán
Country of publication:
Reino Unido