Specialist Palliative Care Activity at an Acute Care Tertiary Hospital and Its Representation in Administrative Data

Autor:	Poorani Muruganantham, Joanne M. Stubbs, Hassan Assareh, Sally Greenaway, Helen M Achat
Rok vydání:	2020
Předmět:	medicine.medical_specialty Palliative care business.industry Palliative Care Australia Representation (systemics) Health services research General Medicine Tertiary Care Centers Nursing Neoplasms Acute care Humans Medicine business Referral and Consultation Specialist palliative care
Zdroj:	American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®. 38:216-222
ISSN:	1938-2715 1049-9091
DOI:	10.1177/1049909120939861
Popis:	Objective: To quantify and examine specialist palliative care (SPC) in-hospital activity and compare it to routinely collected administrative data on palliative care (PC). Methods: All patients discharged from a large acute care tertiary hospital in New South Wales, Australia, between July 1 and December 31, 2017, were identified from the hospital’s data warehouse. Administrative data were supplemented with information from the electronic medical record for hospital stays which were assigned the PC additional diagnosis code (Z51.5); had a “palliative care” care type; or included SPC consultation. Results: Of 34 653 hospital stays, 524 were coded as receiving PC—based on care type (43%) and/or diagnosis code Z51.5 (100%). Specialist palliative care provided 1717 consultations over 507 hospital stays. Patients had 2 (median; interquartile range: 1-4) consultations during an average stay of 15.3 days (SD 15.78; median 10); the first occurred 7.0 days (SD 12.13; median 3) after admission. Of patient stays with an SPC consultation, 70% were assigned the PC Z51.5 code; 60% were referred for symptom management; 68% had cancer. One hundred forty-one patients were under a palliative specialist—either from initial hospital admission (49.6%) or later in their stay. Conclusions: Palliative care specialists provide expert input into patient management, benefitting patients and other clinicians. Administrative data inadequately capture their involvement in patient care, especially consultations, and are therefore inappropriate for reporting SPC activity. Exclusion of information related to SPC activity results in an incomplete and distorted representation of PC services and fails to acknowledge the valuable contribution made by SPC.
Databáze:	OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz:	https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_dedup___::35046827feb4c9d0ad84ea0a1fe8d9a6 https://doi.org/10.1177/1049909120939861 Zobrazit plný text záznamu