Table 5.
Palliative care characteristics registered in the last week of life in specialized palliative care (SPC) and in hospitals in the total sample. Relationships between categorical characteristics and settings were analyzed using the Mantel–Haenszel chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test
| Patients in: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Palliative care characteristics | Specialized palliative care (n = 159) |
Hospital (n = 439) |
P-value, difference between SPC and hospital |
| Death was expected | 156 (98.7%) | 332 (82.8%) | < 0.001 |
| End of life discussions with patient | 123 (87.2%) | 99 (34.2%) | < 0.001 |
| Preferred place of death? | < 0.001 | ||
| Yes | 110 (93.2%) | 23 (54.8%) | |
| No | 8 (6.8%) | 19 (45.2%) | |
| End of life discussion with relatives | < 0.001 | ||
| Yes | 134 (91.8%) | 222 (72.5%) | |
| No | 12 (8.2%) | 84 (27.5%) | |
| Family offered bereavement support | 142 (89.3%) | 105 (24.2%) | < 0.001 |
| Anyone present at time of death | 0.007 | ||
|
Nobody Relative(s) Relative(s) and HCP(s) HCP(s) |
37 (23.3%) 70 (44.0%) 32 (20.1%) 20 (12.6%) |
99 (23.5%) 133 (31.6%) 90 (21.4%) 99 (23.5%) |
|
HCP health care professional