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Erschienen in:

02.08.2019 | original article

Prevalence of palliative care patients in emergency departments

verfasst von: Markus Köstenberger, MD, Stefan Neuwersch, MD, Dietmar Weixler, MD, Dr. Wolfgang Pipam, Michael Zink, MD, Rudolf Likar, MD PhD

Erschienen in: Wiener klinische Wochenschrift | Ausgabe 17-18/2019

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Summary

Background

Emergency departments (ED) serve as a contact point for critically ill patients. According to experience, a fraction of patients visiting ED present with palliative symptoms and require palliative care; however, the prevalence of these patients has not been determined in Austria so far.

Methods

In the ED of a tertiary care medical centre in Carinthia all adult patients presenting between 8 January 2018 and 17 January 2018 were classified on arrival with the Manchester triage system (MTS) and were afterwards assessed with a validated 2‑tier screening tool for palliative care. Patient records were screened in April 2018 to find out whether they received palliative care.

Results

In total 1277 patients visited the ED during the investigation period. Of these patients 1096 were screened and 145 of these patients (13.2%) showed palliative symptoms and needed a goal-oriented therapy. Of these 145 patients 10.9% were assessed by MTS as emergency, 2.7% as very urgent, 34.7% as urgent, 51% as normal, and 0.7% as not urgent. Only 8 (5.5%) of the patients with palliative medical symptoms actually received palliative care consultation.

Conclusions

More than 1 in 10 patients attending an ED suffered from palliative symptoms. Hence it is to be expected that healthcare providers in an ED in Austria will frequently encounter patients with palliative symptoms in emergency admissions. Therefore, it is necessary to develop suitable structures to provide these patients with the best possible care.
Literatur
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Metadaten
Titel
Prevalence of palliative care patients in emergency departments
verfasst von
Markus Köstenberger, MD
Stefan Neuwersch, MD
Dietmar Weixler, MD
Dr. Wolfgang Pipam
Michael Zink, MD
Rudolf Likar, MD PhD
Publikationsdatum
02.08.2019
Verlag
Springer Vienna
Erschienen in
Wiener klinische Wochenschrift / Ausgabe 17-18/2019
Print ISSN: 0043-5325
Elektronische ISSN: 1613-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-019-1530-5