IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i22p15204-d976135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Admission to the Emergency Department by Patients Being Followed up for Palliative Care Consultations

Author

Listed:
  • Mariana Azevedo Brites

    (Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal
    Family Health Unit Corino de Andrade, Póvoa de Varzim, 4490-602 Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal)

  • Joana Gonçalves

    (Póvoa de Varzim—Vila do Conde Hospital Center, 4490-421 Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal)

  • Francisca Rego

    (Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

Introduction: Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life of patients and families facing life-threatening diseases. Admissions to the emergency department are considered potentially avoidable. This study aims to characterize the use of the emergency department by palliative care patients at a public hospital in Portugal. Methods: This retrospective study included patients who had their first palliative care appointment during the year 2019; 135 patients were included, with 255 admissions to the emergency department. Descriptive statistical analysis consisted of calculating the absolute ( n ) and relative (%) frequencies for categorical variables and medians (Mdn) and percentiles (P25 and P75) for continuous variables. The multivariable associations were calculated via logistic models, with the statistical significance set to p < 0.05 and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Dying in hospital was associated with going to the emergency department. Patients who died in hospital had more admissions and spent more time there. Conclusion: Emergency department admissions suggest that there are gaps in the provision of care. It is necessary to anticipate crisis situations, provide home and telephone appointments, and invest in professionals’ education to respond to the needs that will grow in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariana Azevedo Brites & Joana Gonçalves & Francisca Rego, 2022. "Admission to the Emergency Department by Patients Being Followed up for Palliative Care Consultations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-12, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:15204-:d:976135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/15204/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/15204/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:15204-:d:976135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.