End-of-Life Admission to the Emergency Department: Experience of Mexico's National Cancer Institute of a Developing Country.
Am J Hosp Palliat Care
; 37(11): 881-884, 2020 Nov.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32101019
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Admission to the emergency department (ED) of patients with advanced or end-of-life (EoL) cancer saturates the services that provide active medical attention to the complications of anticancer therapy, and the lack of specific protocol limits proper handling.OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of patients with advanced cancer admitted to the ED at the EoL in a comprehensive cancer center in Mexico. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients admitted to ED of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico City, with 3 or less days before they died, between January 2011 and December 2018. The data collected included clinical and demographic characteristics, reason for admission to the ED, number of admissions to ED in the last month of life, and cancer treatment received.RESULTS:
A total of 426 patients were included; 60.8% were female with a median age of 60 years; 71.6% patients were receiving some kind of disease-modifying treatment, although the oncologist had considered they could die within 6 months, and 16 of them were receiving concomitant PC. 8.9% of these patients had been admitted 3 or more times to the ED in the last month. The principal reasons for admission to ED were dyspnea, uncontrolled pain, 12 patients were admitted in active death and 94 died within hours of admission to ED.CONCLUSIONS:
Palliative care approach in oncological patients admitted to ED is important to avoid unnecesary suffering at the EoL.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Países en Desarrollo
/
Neoplasias
Tipo de estudio:
Guideline
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Límite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
País/Región como asunto:
Mexico
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am J Hosp Palliat Care
Asunto de la revista:
ENFERMAGEM
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
México