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Objective: In our hospital, the medical oncology department has been taking the initiative in offering palliative care from the time of cancer diagnosis since October, 2010. Herein, we investigated the use of the palliative care ward in our institution and discussed improvements to future palliative care from the experiences. Methods: We retrospectively studied patient demographics, the situation of referrals from other hospitals, and medical performance in patients who were admitted to the palliative care ward of our institution between the day of establishment and October, 2013. Results: A total of 526 patients had been admitted to the palliative care ward in 3 years since its establishment. By cancer type, lung cancer was predominant (189 cases), followed by gastric cancer (80 cases), colorectal cancer (51 cases), and pancreatic cancer (43 cases). For these cancer types, a comparison of the rate of hospitalization 90 days prior to death of the group of patients in whom best supportive care was introduced from the beginning by referrals from other hospitals and departments with that of the chemotherapy-based active treatment group revealed the following results: lung cancer 74.9% vs. 49.7% (P Discussion: In our hospital, we use the palliative care ward not only in the terminal phase but also starting early in the course of cancer care, such as for alleviation of somatic symptoms and side effects associated with therapy and for home care assistance, and work with home-visit nursing stations and home-based physicians. Because the same physicians engages in cancer therapy and palliative care and actively work with the community, the patients are able to receive treatment and care continuously from diagnosis to the terminal phase, which likely led to reduction in the rate of hospitalization 90 days prior to death. |
