Comparison of places and policies for terminal care.
Patients receiving different types of adequate care for fatal neoplasms were compared by an assessment of their mood and opinions. 78% had spoken of dying, and, although 56% had some unhappiness and anxiety, many were not distressed. Most aspects of care were approved of with no consistant difference in ratings between acute hospital wards and a Foundation Home. Patients were least depressed and anxious at a hospice and preferred the more frank communication available there. Inpatients were slightly less troubled than outpatients who nevertheless praised this management.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D004644:Emotions; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006738:Hospices; D006757:Hospital Units; D006782:Hospitals, Special; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*; D014342:Truth Disclosure