Improved outcomes and cost with palliative care in the Emergency Department: Case-control study

Improved outcomes and cost with palliative care in the Emergency Department: Case-control study
The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine; Brandon Chalfin, Spencer M Salazar, Regina Laico, Susan Hughes, Patrick J Macmillan; 7/25
This small pilot case-control study included a subset of all patients referred by emergency physicians and hospitalists for palliative care within 24 hours of registration, physically present in the ED. CONCLUSION: Embedding hybrid physicians in the ED significantly shortened hospital stays and reduced charges for seriously ill patients. A notable secondary outcome was that 26.5% of ED visits in the case group did not result in hospital admission, compared to all controls being admitted ... In addition, more cases than controls had a code status of comfort care at discharge ... These findings support the further exploration of integrating such physicians into ED settings to enhance patient care and optimize hospital resources.