Table 5.

Cause of death, place of death, and utilization of specialist palliative care services among 247 deceased patients

Characteristic	Conservative Care		RRT		P Value for Difference Between Groupsa
	n	Percent	n	Percent
Cause of death					<0.001
Cardiovascular	24	34	57	33
Infectious	1	1	25	14
Cancer	3	4	11	6
Renal failure	21	29	0	0
Withdrawal of RRT	1	1	45	26
Otherb or unrecorded	22	31	37	21
Place of death					<0.001
Hospital	30	42	115	66
Hospice	10	14	6	3
Nursing home	9	13	6	3
Main residence/home	9	12	23	13
Unknown	14	19	25	15
Received specialist palliative care					<0.001
Yes (documented)	41	57	45	26
No	16	22	57	42
Unknown	15	21	73	32
Among 86 patients receiving palliative care
Context of initial palliative care consultation					<0.001
Inpatient acute care episode	12	29	33	73
Outpatient referral	29	71	11	25
Unrecorded	0	0	1	2
Palliative care service type					0.03
Joint nephrology/palliative care service	7	18	7	16
Existing regular palliative care service	33	80	29	64
Otherb/unknown	1	2	9	20
Palliative care personnel involved in delivering care (more than one can be selected)c
Palliative care physician	36	88	27	60	<0.001
Palliative care nurse (hospital)	19	46	22	49	0.004
Palliative care nurse (community)	17	41	12	27	<0.001
GP	7	17	7	16	0.07
Otherd	8	20	5	11	<0.01
Unknown	6	15	6	13
Duration of palliative care from first consultation to death					0.001
<1 wk	6	15	19	42
1 wk to 1 mo	11	27	18	40
1–3 mo	10	24	4	9
3–6 mo	8	19	3	7
>6 mo	6	15	1	2

Percentages presented are column percentages. GP, general practitioner (primary care physician).

^aFisher exact test or Pearson chi–squared test for difference between groups.

^bOther causes of death include respiratory; other services include nephrology team and medical/nursing team in regional hospital.

^cPercentages add to >100, because multiple categories can be selected.

^dOther personnel includes renal supportive care clinical nurse consultant, general medical/nursing staff from medical ward in regional hospital, and palliative care social worker.