Table 3.
Details of end of life discussions. Data are given as frequency (percentage.)
| Any source |
Patient or surrogate reported |
Documented in medical record |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||||
| Number of patients | 1569 | 1270 | 1081 | ||
|
| |||||
| Topic discussed in any end of life discussion † | |||||
| Resuscitation1 | 714 (46) | 364 (29) | 437 (40) | ||
| Hospice | 1291 (82) | 1088 (86) | 786 (73) | ||
| Other EOL topic | |||||
| Palliative care | -- | -- | 143 (13) | ||
| Venue for dying (other than hospice) | -- | -- | 36 (3) | ||
| Other (advanced care planning, NOS) | -- | -- | 77 (7) | ||
|
| |||||
| Venue of first end of life discussion | |||||
| Inpatient | -- | -- | 590 (55) | ||
| Outpatient | -- | -- | 491 (45) | ||
|
| |||||
| Provider for first end of life discussion‡ (n=806) | Overall | Inpatient | Outpatient | ||
| General medicine | -- | -- | 294 (36) | 216 (73) | 78 (27) |
| Medical oncologist | -- | -- | 397 (49) | 200 (50) | 197 (50) |
| Palliative pain management, hospice | -- | -- | 48 (6) | 30 (63) | 18 (38) |
| Other medical specialist (gastroenterologist or pulmonologist) |
-- | -- | 60 (7) | 39 (65) | 21 (35) |
| Radiation oncologist | -- | -- | 30 (4) | 10 (33) | 20 (67) |
| Surgeon | -- | -- | 27 (3) | 17 (63) | 10 (37) |
| Other providers2 | -- | -- | 4 (0.5) | 0 (0) | 4 (100) |
†
Patients are represented once for each topic discussed.
‡
Available for patients with end of life discussion documented in medical record abstraction, with known provider type. When records indicated that multiple providers were present for the discussion, patients are represented once for each provider type.
1
546 interviews included the item about resuscitation. Resuscitation was not asked about in the brief baseline interview, the surrogate deceased baseline interviews, or in any follow-up interviews.
2
Includes “other specialists” and key non-contact referrals.