Phase of Illness at the time of being referred to the hospital palliative care team and changes after the intervention

Abstract

Objective Palliative care is provided according to patient needs. Healthcare providers can use the Phase of Illness to assess patient needs and improve palliative care. However, patients’ phase changes after the palliative care team’s intervention remain unknown. Methods This study clarified the Phase of Illness of patients referred to palliative care teams at hospitals and the changes in their phase after the intervention. Our study was a secondary analysis of a multicenter survey involving patient-reported outcomes. This study was conducted between February and August 2021 at eight facilities with palliative care teams. The participants were patients for whom the palliative care team received a new request for intervention during the patient enrollment period. Results Out of the 310 patients, 68 (21.9%) were in the stable phase, 141 (45.5%) in the unstable phase, 87 (28.1%) in the deteriorating phase, and 14 (4.5%) in the terminal phase at the time of referral. The total score for symptom distress at the time of referral was the highest in the deteriorating phase (65.7), followed by the unstable (54.1), terminal (47.5), and stable phases (40.5). Furthermore, 20.4% of patients in the unstable phase at the time of referral moved to the stable phase after one week of the intervention. Conclusion This study identified the distribution and changes in the Phase of Illness of patients referred to palliative care teams. Assessments for the Phase of Illness must be standardized in palliative care teams to set benchmarks.