Table 2.
Characteristics of Deceased Hospice Patients
| Variable | n (%) |
|---|---|
| State | |
| Oregon | 200 (54) |
| West Virginia | 123 (33) |
| Wisconsin | 50 (13) |
| Agea | |
| 18 and under | 1 (0.3) |
| 19–64 | 47 (12.6) |
| 65 and older | 325 (87.1) |
| Femalea | 212 (57) |
| Race/ethnicitya | |
| White, not of Hispanic origin | 314 (84.2) |
| African American, not of Hispanic origin | 1 (0.3) |
| Hispanic | 3 (0.8) |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 1 (0.3) |
| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | — |
| Asian | 2 (0.5) |
| Other (mixed race) | 2 (0.5) |
| Not available | 50 (13.4) |
| Place of deatha | |
| Private home | 164 (44.0) |
| Hospital | 21 (5.6) |
| In-patient hospice | 2 (0.5) |
| Foster home/residential care/assisted living | 54 (14.5) |
| Nursing facility | 110 (29.5) |
| Other | 11 (2.9) |
| Not available | 11 (2.9) |
| Patient Cared For By:a (more than one could be checked) | |
| Spouse/partner | 114 (31) |
| Other family member | 251 (67) |
| Paid caregiver | 162 (43) |
| Friend | 13 (4) |
| Other | 2 (0.5) |
| Primary diagnosisa | |
| Cancer | 149 (40) |
| Heart Related Disease | 53 (14) |
| Respiratory Related Disease | 37 (10) |
| Dementia | 30 (8) |
| Neurologic disease | 12 (3) |
| Stroke | 11 (3) |
| Renal Disease/failure | 11 (3) |
| Liver Disease/failure | 6 (2) |
| Other | 63 (17) |
| Mean length of stay in hospice in weeksa | 11 |
| PO(L)ST in chartb | 275 (74) |
| Patient or surrogate signature on PO(L)STc | |
| Overall | 176 (82) |
| Oregon | 93 (79) |
| West Virginia | 79 (99) |
| Wisconsin | 4 (24) |
| Physician or Nurse Practitioner signature on PO(L)STc | 256 (94) |
| Orders Discussed With section completed on PO(L)STc | 251 (91) |
| Person(s) PO(L)ST Discussed Withc | |
| Patient | 73 (29) |
| Health Care Surrogate | 95 (38) |
| Family Member | 16 (6) |
| Patient and Health Care Surrogate Together | 40 (16) |
| Patient and family member | 20 (8) |
| Health care surrogate and family members | 7 (3) |
Note: PO(L)ST refers to both the Oregon/Wisconsin Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) and West Virginia Physicians Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST). Total n = 373; with PO(L)ST n = 275.
a
There were no statistically significant differences between participants with PO(L)ST forms and those without, so information about these groups is presented together.
b
Charts were randomly sampled and not all charts contained PO(L)ST forms.
c
Patients with PO(L)ST forms only.