Hospitalisations at the end of life: using a sentinel surveillance network to study hospital use and associated patient, disease and healthcare factors.
Publication Type:
Journal ArticleSource:
BMC health services research, Volume 7, p.69 (2007)Keywords:
Adult, Belgium, Decision Making, Eurosentimelc, Family Practice, Female, Hospital Mortality, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Humans, Length of Stay, Male, Middle Aged, Physician's Practice Patterns, Questionnaires, Retrospective Studies, Sentinel Surveillance, Terminal Care, Time FactorsAbstract:
Hospital deaths following several hospital admissions or long hospital stays may be indicative of a low quality of dying. Although place of death has been extensively investigated at population level, hospital use in the last months of life and its determinants have been studied less often, especially in Europe and with a general end-of-life patient population. In this study we aim to describe hospital use in the last three months of life in Belgium and identify associated patient, disease and healthcare factors.