Abarshi, Ebun and Echteld, Michael and Van den Block, Lieve and Donker, Gé and Deliens, Luc and Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje (2010) Transitions between care settings at the end of life in the Netherlands:results from a nationwide study. Palliative Medicine, 24 (2). pp. 166-174.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Multiple transitions between care settings in the last phase of life could jeopardize continuity of care and overall end-of-life patient care. Using a mortality follow-back study, we examined the nature and prevalence of transitions between Dutch care settings in the last 3 months of life, and identified potential characteristics associated with them. During the 2-year study period, 690 registered patients died 'totally expectedly and non-suddenly'. These made 709 transitions in the last 3 months, which involved a hospital two times out of three, and covered 43 distinct care trajectories. The most frequent trajectory was home-to-hospital (48%). Forty-six percent experienced one or more transitions in their last month of life. Male gender, multi-morbidities, and absence of GP awareness of a patient's wish for place of death were associated with having a transition in the last 30 days of life; age of <or = 85 years, having an infection and the absence of a palliative-centred treatment goal were associated with terminal hospitalization for > or = 7 days. Although the majority of the 'totally expected and non-sudden' deaths occurred at home, transitions to hospitals were relatively frequent. To minimize abrupt or frequent transitions just before death, timely recognition of the palliative phase of dying is important.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Journal or Publication Title: | Palliative Medicine |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | care setting transitions ; comparative study ; end-of-life care ; palliative care ; sentinel GPs ; The Netherlands |
| Subjects: | R Medicine > R Medicine (General) |
| Departments: | Faculty of Health and Medicine > Health Research |
| ID Code: | 56334 |
| Deposited By: | ep_importer_pure |
| Deposited On: | 30 Jul 2012 10:25 |
| Refereed?: | Yes |
| Published?: | Published |
| Last Modified: | 19 Mar 2013 11:14 |
| Identification Number: | |
| URI: | http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/56334 |
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