The last month of life : continuity, care site and place of death

• A hospice ward was opened in 1991 at the Örebro MedicalCentre Hospital (ÖMCH) in Sweden. Shortly afterwards, aresearch project was started, which aimed to describe differentaspects of the final period of life of a group of cancer patients.This exploratory study is part of this project and aims to assesscontinuity in the site of care for a group of severely ill cancerpatients during the final stages of their lives, and their placeof death within different cultures of care.This prospective study involved 56 adults with cancer who hadbeen admitted to six specialized departments at ÖMCH. Demographicand diagnostic data, documentation of when the patients changedfrom one care form to another, as well as place of death wereobtained. The analysis of continuity in terms of care site involvedcare-oriented cultures (hospice ward, hospital-based home care,primary care-based home care and nursing home) and cure-orientedcultures (acute hospital wards).Considered as a group, the patients spent one-third of theirtime at home during their final month of life, with or withoutformal caregivers. For individual patients, however, there weregreat variations with regard to continuity of care site andcare form. A pattern was found for the type of cancer the patientshad and where they were during their final month. Ten patientsdied in their own homes, and of the 46 who died in an institution,approximately the same number died in a care-oriented cultureas in a cure-oriented culture.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Nursing Science

Vårdvetenskap

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)