The effect of inpatient hospice units on hospice use post-admission.
The objective of this study was to determine whether having a hospice unit within the hospital increases the proportion of terminally ill patients who use hospice services (including home, nursing home, or inpatient hospice) post-admission. Using medical record data abstracted for 232 randomly selected patients with terminal cancer admitted to six community hospitals in Connecticut, we found that patients admitted to a hospital with a hospice unit were more likely to use hospice services (i.e., home hospice, nursing home hospice, or inpatient hospice) post-admission than patients admitted to a hospital without a hospice unit (unadjusted OR 5.7, 95% CI 3.1, 10.6). This effect persisted after adjusting for patient age, gender, marital status, documented discussions of prognosis, prior hospice use, and type of cancer.
D000359:Aftercare / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003237:Connecticut; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*