Table 3.
Level of hospital-wide integration of specialist palliative care (adapted from Hui et al. 2015)
| Total (n = 62) |
Low referral ratea (n = 45) |
High referral ratea (n = 17) |
P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integration indicators | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | |
| Presence of inpatient PC consultation services | 58 (94) | 41 (91) | 17 (100) | .57 |
| Presence of dedicated PC outpatient clinic | 28 (45) | 15 (33) | 13 (76) | .004 |
| Presence of interdisciplinary SPCT b | 38 (61) | 31 (69) | 7 (41) | .08 |
| Routine identification of PC patients c | 36 (58) | 22 (51) | 13 (76) | .09 |
| Early referral to PC (≥ 3 months) | 2 (3) | 2 (4) | 0 (0) | 1.0 |
| Presence of didactic palliative care curriculumd | 59 (95) | 42 (93) | 17 (100) | .56 |
| Integration indexe (Mean, SD) | 3.6 (.93) | 3.4 (.97) | 3.9 (.90) | .06 |
aReferral rate: No of annual inpatient referrals / No of total annual hospital admissions × 100. Low referral rate < 1%, high referral rate ≥ 1%. b: team of a physician, a nurse and a psychosocial team member (psychologist / counsellor, chaplain, social worker); c assessment tools for identification of palliative care phase. d Education provided to nurses, interns, residents and / or fellows hospital-wide. eThis represents a composite score of 6 integration indicators; 1 point was given for each affirmative response. Total score ranges from 0 to 6, with a higher index indicating a greater level of integration