End-of-life care for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients at a large academic center.

Abstract

56 Background: GBM is a uniformly fatal disease with average survival of < 3 years and universal cognitive problems, making advance care planning paramount. End of life (EOL) patterns of GBM care in the US have not been studied. We examined care in a cohort of GBM and brain tumor (BT) patients as part of a program to provide individual provider feedback about EOL care. Methods: We reviewed the care of all GBM patients over 3 years with a random sample of 100, and a 5-yr subset of 45 who received their care at Gilchrist Hospice (GH), our largest provider. We queried EPIC EMR for markers of quality. We also reviewed all 452 advanced cancer pts of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (SKCCC) referred to GH from 7/1/13 to 3/31/15 to find the median length of stay (LOS) and %LOS < 7 days for each division and each physician; 29 BT patients (most GBM) are included. Results: Few patients had documented Advance Directives or code status. Of the 100 pts, 37% were hospitalized in the last 4 weeks of life, and 17% received chemotherapy. Hospice referral and use was 76%. Of those in GH, 64% died at home with hospice and 20% died in inpatient hospice. Variability among physicians in hospice LOS was high (cv = 124.30%) ranging from 6 to 158 days with a median of 33.5 days, exceeding national averages, and 3 of 6 practitioners were below average LOS. Conclusions: In this snapshot of GBM EOL care in the US, improvements can be made in the use of advance care planning, code status, chemotherapy near death, and hospitalization rates. Hospice LOS is above national averages but varies by physician. [Table: see text]