Identification and documentation of persons being in palliative phase regardless of age,
diagnosis and places of care, and their use of a sitting service at the end of life
Sammanfattning
Background: Older persons and persons with diseases other than cancer are often discriminated against when applying for palliative care despite growing numbers of both older persons and individuals with chronic diseases. An intention for palliative care in Sweden is that all persons in the final stage of life, irrespective of age, domicile, diagnosis, and care place shall have access to palliative care on equal terms. One way to support these persons in final stage of life and their relatives is to offer sitting service.
Aims: To describe individuals who were identified and documented as being in a palliative phase in a Swedish municipality, with respect to demographics, use of a sitting service, continuity of care in the last month of life and the place of death. A second aim was to describe and compare the groups who received/did not receive sitting services related to the aforementioned variables.
Method: Retrospective data from nursing records and palliative care identification forms were analyzed with descriptive and analytic statistical methods.
Findings: Among individuals deceased during 2007, 51% were identified and documented as being in palliative phase. The majority was older people (mean 83 years) with a noncancer diagnosis (58%). Twenty-eight individuals (16%) had received a sitting service between 8 and 249 hours (one extreme value = 2211). It is indicated that sitting service significantly increased the possibility of dying at home (p = 0.00004), but did not affect how often the place of care changed during the last month of life.
Limitation: A small sample from a Swedish context must be considered.
Conclusion: These results can be related to an awareness in the municipality that led to adopting the concept of palliative care as not only for those with a cancer diagnosis. Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.