Proactive palliative care choices for haematology day unit patients.
End stage haematology patients may require transfusion of blood, or blood products, regularly throughout the week. One regional haematology day unit sister identified difficulties that these hospital services dependent patients were experiencing in establishing contact with local community specialist palliative care services. As a consequence, some patients were unable to access specialist palliative care services in the community when they were too unwell to attend the day unit, resulting in acute admission to hospital for terminal care. Discussion of this issue with nursing colleagues from the hospital and community palliative care teams led to the development of an alternative model of palliative care delivery for these patients. The new model increased patient choice. Evaluation of this model of care demonstrated an increase in planned hospice/community deaths, avoiding unnecessary emergency hospital admissions in the last days of life. All regional patients accessed some palliative care services/treatment locally and there was opportunity for patient-initiated palliative care review.
Boyce
Anne
A
The Macmillan Unit, The Calderdale Royal Hospital, Salterhebble, Halifax HX3 0PW, UK. anneboycens@aol.com
McHugh
Mandy
M
Lyon
Penny
P
D001803:Blood Transfusion; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003631:Day Care, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D004739:England; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D020380:Needs Assessment; D016522:Oncology Service, Hospital; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires