General practitioner awareness of preferred place of death and correlates of dying in a preferred place: a nationwide mortality follow-back study in the Netherlands.
To improve the quality of end-of-life care, general practitioner (GP) awareness of where their patients prefer to die is important. To examine GP awareness of patients' preferred place of death (POD), associated patient- and care-related characteristics, and the congruence between preferred and actual POD in The Netherlands, a mortality follow-back study was conducted between January 2005 and December 2006. Standardized registration forms were used to collect data on all nonsudden deaths (n=637) by means of the Dutch Sentinel Network, a nationally representative network of general practices. Forty-six percent of patients had GPs who were not aware of their preferred POD. Of those whose GPs were aware, 88% had preferred to die in a private or care home, 10% in a hospice or palliative care unit, and 2% in a hospital. GPs were informed by the patients themselves in 84% of cases. Having financial status "above average," a life-prolongation or palliative care goal, and using specialist palliative care services were associated with higher GP-awareness odds. Four-fifth of patients with known preferred POD died there. There is a potential for improving GP awareness of patients' preferred POD. Such awareness is enhanced when palliation is an active part of end-of-life care. The hospital is the POD least preferred by dying patients.
Abarshi
Ebun
E
Department of Public and Occupational Health, EMGO Institute, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ebun.abarshi@vumc.nl
Onwuteaka-Philipsen
Bregje
B
Donker
Gé
G
Echteld
Michael
M
Van den Block
Lieve
L
Deliens
Luc
L
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003625:Data Collection; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010361:Patients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*