RT Journal Article
T1 Interventions and decision-making at the end of life: the effect of establishing the terminal illness situation.
A1 Campos-Calderón, C
A1 Montoya-Juárez, R
A1 Hueso-Montoro, C
A1 Hernández-López, E
A1 Ojeda-Virto, F
A1 García-Caro, M P
K1 Decision making
K1 Delivery of care
K1 End-of-life care
K1 Hospital care
K1 Prognosis
K1 Symptom management
K1 Analgésicos opioides
K1 Hospitales
K1 Humanos
K1 Oxígeno
K1 Prescripciones
K1 Órdenes de resucitación
K1 Estudios retrospectivos
K1 España
K1 Andalucía
AB BACKGROUNDMany 'routine' interventions performed in hospital rooms have repercussions for the comfort of the patient, and the decision to perform them should depend on whether the patient is identified as in a terminal phase. The aim of this study is to analyse the health interventions performed and decisions made in the last days of life in patients with advanced oncological and non-oncological illness to ascertain whether identifying the patient's terminal illness situation has any effect on these decisions.METHODSRetrospective study of the clinical histories of deceased patients in four hospitals in Granada (Spain) in 2010. Clinical histories corresponding to the last three months of the patient's life were reviewed.RESULTSA total of 202 clinical histories were reviewed, 60 % of which were those of non-oncology patients. Opioid prescriptions (58.4 %), palliative sedation (35.1 %) and Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders (34.7 %) were the decisions most often reflected in the histories, and differences in these decisions were found between patients registered as terminal and those who were not registered as terminal. The most frequent interventions in the final 14 days and 48 h were parenteral hydration (96-83 %), peripheral venous catheter (90.1-82 %) and oxygen therapy (81.2-70.5 %). There were statistically significant differences between the patients who were registered as terminal and those not registered as terminal in the number of interventions applied in the final 14 days and 48 h (p = 0.01-p = 0.00) and in many of the described treatments.CONCLUSIONThe recognition of a patient's terminal status in the clinical history conditions the decisions that are made and is generally associated with a lower number of interventions.
PB BioMed Central
YR 2016
FD 2016-11-07
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10668/2524
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10668/2524
LA en
NO Campos-Calderón C, Montoya-Juárez R, Hueso-Montoro C, Hernández-López E, Ojeda-Virto F, García-Caro MP. Interventions and decision-making at the end of life: the effect of establishing the terminal illness situation. BMC Palliat Care. 2016                         ; 15(1):91
NO Journal Article;The study was approved by the ethics committee of Hospital Clínico San Cecilio, Hospital Virgen de las Nieves, Hospital Comarcal de Baza, Hospital Santa Ana de Motril (PI-0670-2010).
DS RISalud
RD Apr 14, 2025