Table 2.
Medical utilization condition of enrolled patients after receiving PHC.
| Variables | Palliative Home Care Type (Before PSM) |
p-Value | Palliative Home Care Type (After PSM) |
p-Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital (n = 131) |
Community (n = 43) |
Hospital (n = 42) |
Community (n = 42) |
|||
| N (%)/Mean ± SD | N (%)/Mean ± SD | |||||
| Number of physician visits | 5.18 ± 5.46 | 3.09 ± 2.39 | <0.01 | 5.17 ± 6.56 | 3.14 ± 2.40 | 0.07 |
| Physician visit interval (day/time) | 15.59± 9.40 | 18.28 ± 15.63 | 0.29 | 15.00 ± 9.32 | 18.6 ± 15.61 | 0.20 |
| Number of nurse visits | 5.91 ± 5.93 | 9.98 ± 9.97 | 0.01 | 5.57 ± 6.95 | 10.19 ± 9.99 | 0.02 |
| Nurse visit interval (day/time) | 13.07± 8.66 | 6.30 ± 3.65 | <0.01 | 14.19 ± 9.25 | 6.40 ± 3.63 | <0.01 |
| Total days of care | 82.12 ± 95.38 | 61.30 ± 64.40 | 0.18 | 71.76 ± 95.5 | 62.71 ± 64.5 | 0.61 |
| The wait time between referral and acceptance to PHC | 9.53 ± 5.87 | 6.47 ± 5.41 | <0.01 | 9.45 ± 6.43 | 6.40 ± 5.46 | 0.02 |
| Ever been to ED after referred to PHC but not yet received PHC | 0.06 | 0.04 | ||||
| Yes | 21 (16%) | 2 (4.7%) | 8 (19.0%) | 2 (4.8%) | ||
| No | 110 (84%) | 41 (95.3%) | 34 (81.0%) | 40 (95.2%) | ||
| The total number of ED visits after referred to PHC but not yet received PHC | 0.18 ± 0.420 | 0.07 ± 0.33 | 0.10 | 0.21 ± 0.47 | 0.07 ± 0.34 | 0.12 |
| Ever been to the ED | 0.049 | 0.01 | ||||
| Yes | 86 (65.6%) | 21 (48.8%) | 31 (73.8%) | 20 (47.6%) | ||
| No | 45 (34.4%) | 22 (51.2%) | 11 (26.2%) | 22 (52.4%) | ||
| Number of ED visits | 0.90 ± 0.927 | 0.58 ± 0.698 | 0.04 | 1.07 ±0.92 | 0.57 ±0.70 | <0.01 |
| Ever been hospitalized | 0.73 | 0.36 | ||||
| Yes | 80 (61.1%) | 25 (58.1%) | 29 (69.0%) | 25 (59.5%) | ||
| No | 51 (38.9%) | 18 (41.9%) | 13 (31.0%) | 17 (40.5%) | ||
| Number of hospitalizations | 0.78 ± 0.797 | 0.77 ± 0.782 | 0.94 | 0.90 ± 0.85 | 0.79 ± 0.72 | 0.51 |
| The total length of hospital stays | 9.92 ± 13.59 | 7.23 ± 10.71 | 0.24 | 10.40 ± 12.54 | 7.40 ± 10.78 | 0.24 |
| The average length of hospital stay | 7.84 ± 10.12 | 5.03 ± 6.12 | 0.03 | 8.42 ± 10.32 | 5.15 ± 6.14 | 0.08 |
| Place of death | 0.13 | 0.02 | ||||
| Home | 47 (35.9%) | 22 (51.2%) | 12 (28.6%) | 22 (52.4%) | ||
| Nursing/residential home | 8 (6.1%) | 1 (2.3%) | 3 (7.1%) | 1 (2.4%) | ||
| Palliative care unit/inpatient hospice | 63 (48.1%) | 16 (37.2%) | 24 (57.1%) | 16 (38.1%) | ||
| General wards | 3 (2.3%) | 3 (7.0%) | 0 (0%) | 3 (7.1%) | ||
| Emergency department | 10 (7.6%) | 1 (2.3%) | 3 (7.1%) | 0 (0%) | ||
Data presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD) for continuous variables and frequency (percentage, %) for categorical variables. The p-values were calculated using the t-test for continuous variables and the Chi-square test for categorical variables. PSM: Propensity Score Matching; PHC: palliative home care; ED: emergency department.