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Goals of Care Conversations Documented by an Embedded Emergency Department-Palliative Care Team during COVID

Bowman, Jason K ; Aaronson, Emily L ; Petrillo, Laura A and Jacobsen, Juliet C LU (2023) In Journal of Palliative Medicine 26(5). p.662-666
Abstract

Background: There has been growing interest around integrating palliative care (PC) into emergency department (ED) practice but concern about feasibility and impact. In 2020, as the COVID pandemic was escalating, our hospital's ED and PC leadership created a new service of PC clinicians embedded in the ED. Objectives: To describe the clinical work of the embedded ED-PC team, in particular what was discussed during goals of care conversations. Design: Prospective patient identification followed by retrospective electronic health record chart extraction and analysis. Settings/Subjects: Adult ED patients in an academic medical center in the United States. Measurements/Results: The embedded ED-PC team saw 159 patients, whose mean age was... (More)

Background: There has been growing interest around integrating palliative care (PC) into emergency department (ED) practice but concern about feasibility and impact. In 2020, as the COVID pandemic was escalating, our hospital's ED and PC leadership created a new service of PC clinicians embedded in the ED. Objectives: To describe the clinical work of the embedded ED-PC team, in particular what was discussed during goals of care conversations. Design: Prospective patient identification followed by retrospective electronic health record chart extraction and analysis. Settings/Subjects: Adult ED patients in an academic medical center in the United States. Measurements/Results: The embedded ED-PC team saw 159 patients, whose mean age was 77.5. Nearly all patients were admitted, 48.0% had confirmed or presumed COVID, and overall mortality was 29.1%. Of the patients seen, 58.5% had a serious illness conversation documented as part of the consult. The most common topics addressed were patient (or family) illness understanding (96%), what was most important (92%), and a clinical recommendation (91%). Clinicians provided a prognostic estimate in 57/93 (61.3%) of documented discussions. In the majority of cases where prognosis was discussed, it was described as poor. Conclusion: Specialist PC clinicians embedded in the ED can engage in high-quality goals of care conversations that have the potential to align patients' hospital trajectory with their preferences.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Palliative Medicine
volume
26
issue
5
pages
662 - 666
publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85159212955
  • pmid:36378862
ISSN
1096-6218
DOI
10.1089/jpm.2022.0314
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
82792311-afed-4c56-9c8e-b1354a2eb54c
date added to LUP
2022-11-17 10:25:07
date last changed
2024-04-19 19:58:59
@article{82792311-afed-4c56-9c8e-b1354a2eb54c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: There has been growing interest around integrating palliative care (PC) into emergency department (ED) practice but concern about feasibility and impact. In 2020, as the COVID pandemic was escalating, our hospital's ED and PC leadership created a new service of PC clinicians embedded in the ED. Objectives: To describe the clinical work of the embedded ED-PC team, in particular what was discussed during goals of care conversations. Design: Prospective patient identification followed by retrospective electronic health record chart extraction and analysis. Settings/Subjects: Adult ED patients in an academic medical center in the United States. Measurements/Results: The embedded ED-PC team saw 159 patients, whose mean age was 77.5. Nearly all patients were admitted, 48.0% had confirmed or presumed COVID, and overall mortality was 29.1%. Of the patients seen, 58.5% had a serious illness conversation documented as part of the consult. The most common topics addressed were patient (or family) illness understanding (96%), what was most important (92%), and a clinical recommendation (91%). Clinicians provided a prognostic estimate in 57/93 (61.3%) of documented discussions. In the majority of cases where prognosis was discussed, it was described as poor. Conclusion: Specialist PC clinicians embedded in the ED can engage in high-quality goals of care conversations that have the potential to align patients' hospital trajectory with their preferences.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bowman, Jason K and Aaronson, Emily L and Petrillo, Laura A and Jacobsen, Juliet C}},
  issn         = {{1096-6218}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{662--666}},
  publisher    = {{Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.}},
  series       = {{Journal of Palliative Medicine}},
  title        = {{Goals of Care Conversations Documented by an Embedded Emergency Department-Palliative Care Team during COVID}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2022.0314}},
  doi          = {{10.1089/jpm.2022.0314}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}