Evaluation of an Emergency Department-based Palliative Care Extender Program on Hospital and Patient Outcomes
Background: Boston Medical Center (BMC), a safety-net hospital, treated a substantial portion of the Boston cohort that was sick with COVID-19. Unfortunately, these patients experienced high rates of morbidity and mortality given the significant health disparities that many of BMC’s patients face. B...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
eScholarship Publishing, University of California
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1sn970cf |
| _version_ | 1797798239008718848 |
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| author | Kalpana Narayan Shankar Julianne Dugas Sorraya Jaiprasert Lauren Nentwich Lisa Caruso Alexandra Dobie Deborah Whalen Perla Macip-Rodriguez Sandhya Rao Suzanne E. Mitchell |
| author_facet | Kalpana Narayan Shankar Julianne Dugas Sorraya Jaiprasert Lauren Nentwich Lisa Caruso Alexandra Dobie Deborah Whalen Perla Macip-Rodriguez Sandhya Rao Suzanne E. Mitchell |
| author_sort | Kalpana Narayan Shankar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Boston Medical Center (BMC), a safety-net hospital, treated a substantial portion of the Boston cohort that was sick with COVID-19. Unfortunately, these patients experienced high rates of morbidity and mortality given the significant health disparities that many of BMC’s patients face. Boston Medical Center launched a palliative care extender program to help address the needs of critically ill ED patients under crisis conditions. In this program evaluation our goal was to assess outcomes between those who received palliative care in the emergency department (ED) vs those who received palliative care as an inpatient or were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: We used a matched retrospective cohort study design to assess the difference in outcomes between the two groups. Results: A total of 82 patients received palliative care services in the ED, and 317 patients received palliative care services as an inpatient. After controlling for demographics, patients who received palliative care services in the ED were less likely to have a change in level of care (P<0.001) or be admitted to an ICU (P<0.001). Cases had an average length of stay of 5.2 days compared to controls who stayed 9.9 days (P<0.001). Conclusion: Within a busy ED environment, initiating palliative care discussions by ED staff can be challenging. This study demonstrates that consulting palliative care specialists early in the course of the patient’s ED stay can benefit patients and families and improve resource utilization. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T04:00:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e80290a3253f4dca8117243bac64ee23 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1936-9018 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T04:00:32Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | eScholarship Publishing, University of California |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-e80290a3253f4dca8117243bac64ee232023-06-21T18:00:40ZengeScholarship Publishing, University of CaliforniaWestern Journal of Emergency Medicine1936-90182023-05-0124310.5811/westjem.56015wjem-24-637Evaluation of an Emergency Department-based Palliative Care Extender Program on Hospital and Patient OutcomesKalpana Narayan Shankar0Julianne Dugas1Sorraya Jaiprasert2Lauren Nentwich3Lisa Caruso4Alexandra Dobie5Deborah Whalen6Perla Macip-Rodriguez7Sandhya Rao8Suzanne E. Mitchell9Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBoston University School of Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBoston Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBoston Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBoston Medical Center, Department of Geriatrics, Boston, MassachusettsBoston Medical Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBoston Medical Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBoston Medical Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBoston Medical Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBoston Medical Center, Department of Family Medicine, Boston, MassachusettsBackground: Boston Medical Center (BMC), a safety-net hospital, treated a substantial portion of the Boston cohort that was sick with COVID-19. Unfortunately, these patients experienced high rates of morbidity and mortality given the significant health disparities that many of BMC’s patients face. Boston Medical Center launched a palliative care extender program to help address the needs of critically ill ED patients under crisis conditions. In this program evaluation our goal was to assess outcomes between those who received palliative care in the emergency department (ED) vs those who received palliative care as an inpatient or were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: We used a matched retrospective cohort study design to assess the difference in outcomes between the two groups. Results: A total of 82 patients received palliative care services in the ED, and 317 patients received palliative care services as an inpatient. After controlling for demographics, patients who received palliative care services in the ED were less likely to have a change in level of care (P<0.001) or be admitted to an ICU (P<0.001). Cases had an average length of stay of 5.2 days compared to controls who stayed 9.9 days (P<0.001). Conclusion: Within a busy ED environment, initiating palliative care discussions by ED staff can be challenging. This study demonstrates that consulting palliative care specialists early in the course of the patient’s ED stay can benefit patients and families and improve resource utilization.https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1sn970cf |
| spellingShingle | Kalpana Narayan Shankar Julianne Dugas Sorraya Jaiprasert Lauren Nentwich Lisa Caruso Alexandra Dobie Deborah Whalen Perla Macip-Rodriguez Sandhya Rao Suzanne E. Mitchell Evaluation of an Emergency Department-based Palliative Care Extender Program on Hospital and Patient Outcomes Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| title | Evaluation of an Emergency Department-based Palliative Care Extender Program on Hospital and Patient Outcomes |
| title_full | Evaluation of an Emergency Department-based Palliative Care Extender Program on Hospital and Patient Outcomes |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of an Emergency Department-based Palliative Care Extender Program on Hospital and Patient Outcomes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of an Emergency Department-based Palliative Care Extender Program on Hospital and Patient Outcomes |
| title_short | Evaluation of an Emergency Department-based Palliative Care Extender Program on Hospital and Patient Outcomes |
| title_sort | evaluation of an emergency department based palliative care extender program on hospital and patient outcomes |
| url | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1sn970cf |
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