Beyond infection: Mortality and end-of-life care associated with infectious disease consultation in an academic health system

Beyond infection: Mortality and end-of-life care associated with infectious disease consultation in an academic health system
Clinical Infectious Diseases; by Alison G. C. Smith, Michael E. Yarrington, Rasha Raslan, Wil L. Santivasi, Arthur W. Baker, Nicholas A. Turner, Gary M. Cox, Kristen V. Dicks, John J. Engemann, Patricia Kohler, Ahmad Mourad, Rebekah H. Wrenn, Sofia Zavala, Jason E. Stout; 10/24
Infectious diseases (ID) physicians are increasingly faced with the challenge of caring for patients with terminal illnesses or incurable infections. This was a retrospective cohort of all patients with an ID consult within an academic health system from 1 January 2014 through 31 December 2023, including community, general, and transplant ID consult services. There were 60,820 inpatient ID consults involving 37,848 unique patients... In total, [2898] 7.5% of patients receiving an ID consult died during admission and 1006 (2.6%) of patients were discharged to hospice... In total 2866 (7.6%) of all patients receiving ID consultation also received palliative care consultation during the same hospitalization... Patients receiving ID consultation were increasingly complex and more likely to die soon after consultation. These results provide a framework for ID clinicians to consider their role in end-of-life care.
Publisher's note: How often does your hospice work with infectious disease physicians and patients?