title: A Hospice and Palliative Care Bed Dedicated to Patients Admitted to the Emergency Department for End-of-Life Care.
abstract: A hospice and palliative care (PC) bed was created in 2006, located within a quiet area of our intensive care unit, in order to admit terminally ill patients sent to the emergency department (ED) for end-of-life care. We retrospectively analyze the records of the 342 terminally ill patients sent to the ED from 2007 to 2011. Among them, 176 (51.5%) were admitted to our hospice and PC bed, where 114 died. Besides, 99 (28.9%) of them died on stretchers in the ED. Our intervention led to a significant decrease in the number of terminally ill patients dying on stretchers in the ED. It also allowed both patients and families to have access to a more suitable environment.
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France pierre.lafond@chu-st-etienne.fr.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lafond
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chalayer
authors.affiliation: Palliative Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roussier
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France Interne.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lacoin-Reynaud
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France Inserm CIE3, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, France, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tardy
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: death; emergency department; end-of-life care; hospice care; intensive care unit; palliative care