Can palliative care consults in hospitals improve end-of-life care?
Can palliative care consults in hospitals improve end-of-life care?
National Institute on Aging; 7/18/24
Having clinicians automatically order palliative care increased consultation rates and expedited consultations for seriously ill hospitalized people but did not decrease length of stay, according to an NIA-funded study. The findings, published in JAMA, suggest that while ordering by default rather than by choice improves certain end-of-life care processes, the impact on hospital stay length is limited. ... Overall, while default orders for palliative care consultations did not reduce hospital stays, they did improve the frequency and timing of consultations as well as some end-of-life care processes, aligning with clinical guidelines for high quality palliative care.