Palliative care in a COVID-19 Internal Medicine ward: A preliminary report
Background: in the current pandemic emergency, increased attention has given to treating symptoms that cause suffering in patients with COVID-19. This study aims to describe the role of palliative care in the management of these patients. Methods: palliative consultation was requested by the staff a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2021-04-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Infectious Diseases |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221001399 |
| _version_ | 1818972190337400832 |
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| author | Nicola Mumoli Clarissa Florian Marco Cei Isabella Evangelista Alessandra Colombo Giancarlo Razionale Luca Moroni Antonino Mazzone |
| author_facet | Nicola Mumoli Clarissa Florian Marco Cei Isabella Evangelista Alessandra Colombo Giancarlo Razionale Luca Moroni Antonino Mazzone |
| author_sort | Nicola Mumoli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: in the current pandemic emergency, increased attention has given to treating symptoms that cause suffering in patients with COVID-19. This study aims to describe the role of palliative care in the management of these patients. Methods: palliative consultation was requested by the staff as per protocol. In brief, the criteria for referring patients to a palliative care physician or to undergo palliative care were left to the discretion of the physician in charge. We recorded data regarding age, gender, length of stay, type of discharge (dead or alive, and transfer to long-term or hospice facilities). Results: Between March 18 to May 8, 2020, 412 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to the Internal Medicine wards of Magenta Hospital, Italy. The palliative care physician was directly involved in 105 cases (25.5%) and performed 236 consultations. Of the 105 patients who received palliative care counselling, 66 (63%) died. The average number of days in care was 2.26 days. The principal reason for counseling was controlling symptoms (54%) and 12% deal with the end of life management. The prevalent symptom, among those which led to the counseling, was restlessness/agitation (41%), followed by emotional issues (26%) such as anxiety, fear, and demoralization. In only 20% of cases, dyspnoea was the reason for symptomatic treatment. Conclusions: A large number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients are at high risk of clinical deterioration and death. This leads to the opportunity to integrate a palliative physician into the staff, who treat these patients. There is an urgent need for protocol standardization and formal trials to verify the effectiveness of this approach. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T15:04:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b961ea7b77a49bda3ec7293db874e3b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1201-9712 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T15:04:20Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Infectious Diseases |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b961ea7b77a49bda3ec7293db874e3b2022-12-21T19:36:34ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Infectious Diseases1201-97122021-04-01105141143Palliative care in a COVID-19 Internal Medicine ward: A preliminary reportNicola Mumoli0Clarissa Florian1Marco Cei2Isabella Evangelista3Alessandra Colombo4Giancarlo Razionale5Luca Moroni6Antonino Mazzone7Department of Internal Medicine, Magenta Hospital, ASST Ovest Milanese, Magenta, MI, Italy; Corresponding author at: Department of Internal Medicine, Ospedale Fornaroli, via al Donatore di Sangue 50, 20013 Magenta, MI, Italy.Unit of Palliative Care, Abbiategrasso Hospice, Abbiategrasso, MI, ItalyDepartment of Internal Medicine, Cecina Hospital, Cecina, LI, ItalyDepartment of Internal Medicine, Magenta Hospital, ASST Ovest Milanese, Magenta, MI, ItalyDepartment of Internal Medicine, Magenta Hospital, ASST Ovest Milanese, Magenta, MI, ItalyDepartment of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Magenta Hospital, ASST Ovest Milanese, Magenta, MI, ItalyUnit of Palliative Care, Abbiategrasso Hospice, Abbiategrasso, MI, ItalyDepartment of Internal Medicine, Legnano Hospital, ASST Ovest Milanese, Legnano, MI, ItalyBackground: in the current pandemic emergency, increased attention has given to treating symptoms that cause suffering in patients with COVID-19. This study aims to describe the role of palliative care in the management of these patients. Methods: palliative consultation was requested by the staff as per protocol. In brief, the criteria for referring patients to a palliative care physician or to undergo palliative care were left to the discretion of the physician in charge. We recorded data regarding age, gender, length of stay, type of discharge (dead or alive, and transfer to long-term or hospice facilities). Results: Between March 18 to May 8, 2020, 412 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to the Internal Medicine wards of Magenta Hospital, Italy. The palliative care physician was directly involved in 105 cases (25.5%) and performed 236 consultations. Of the 105 patients who received palliative care counselling, 66 (63%) died. The average number of days in care was 2.26 days. The principal reason for counseling was controlling symptoms (54%) and 12% deal with the end of life management. The prevalent symptom, among those which led to the counseling, was restlessness/agitation (41%), followed by emotional issues (26%) such as anxiety, fear, and demoralization. In only 20% of cases, dyspnoea was the reason for symptomatic treatment. Conclusions: A large number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients are at high risk of clinical deterioration and death. This leads to the opportunity to integrate a palliative physician into the staff, who treat these patients. There is an urgent need for protocol standardization and formal trials to verify the effectiveness of this approach.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221001399COVID-19SARS-CoV-2Palliative care |
| spellingShingle | Nicola Mumoli Clarissa Florian Marco Cei Isabella Evangelista Alessandra Colombo Giancarlo Razionale Luca Moroni Antonino Mazzone Palliative care in a COVID-19 Internal Medicine ward: A preliminary report International Journal of Infectious Diseases COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Palliative care |
| title | Palliative care in a COVID-19 Internal Medicine ward: A preliminary report |
| title_full | Palliative care in a COVID-19 Internal Medicine ward: A preliminary report |
| title_fullStr | Palliative care in a COVID-19 Internal Medicine ward: A preliminary report |
| title_full_unstemmed | Palliative care in a COVID-19 Internal Medicine ward: A preliminary report |
| title_short | Palliative care in a COVID-19 Internal Medicine ward: A preliminary report |
| title_sort | palliative care in a covid 19 internal medicine ward a preliminary report |
| topic | COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Palliative care |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221001399 |
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