title: Death anxiety in hospitalized end-of-life patients as captured from a structured electronic health record: differences by patient and nurse characteristics.
abstract: The nursing outcomes of hospitalized patients whose plans of care include death anxiety, which is a diagnosis among patients at the end-of-life, are obscure. The authors of the current article applied data mining techniques to nursing plan-of-care data for patients diagnosed with death anxiety, as defined by North American Nursing Diagnosis Association International, from four different hospitals to examine nursing care outcomes and associated factors. Results indicate that <50% of patients met the expected outcome of comfortable death. Gerontology unit patients were more likely to meet the expected outcome than patients from other unit types, although results were not statistically significant. Younger patients (i.e., age <65) had a lower chance of meeting the outcome compared with older patients (i.e., age ≥65) (χ(2)(1) = 9.266, p < 0.004). Longer stays improved the chances of meeting the outcome (χ(2)(2) = 6.47, p < 0.04). Results indicate that death anxiety outcomes are suboptimal and suggest the need to better educate clinicians about diagnosing and treating death anxiety among patients who face the end-of-life transition.
authors.forename: Muhammad Kamran
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lodhi
authors.forename: Umer Iftikhar
authors.initials: UI
authors.lastname: Cheema
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stifter
authors.forename: Diana J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wilkie
authors.forename: Gail M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Keenan
authors.forename: Yingwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Rashid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.forename: Ashfaq A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Khokhar
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D001293:Attitude to Death; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult