Using Hospital Mortality Data to Inform Creation of an Acute Care Inpatient GIP Hospice Program Led by an Academic Palliative Care Team

BACKGROUND: Acute Care General Inpatient (GIP) Hospice within hospital systems is becoming more common nationally. Palliative care teams are often involved in programmatic planning. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 100 inpatient acute care deaths was conducted to review characteristics of patient deaths in an urban academic hospital. RESULTS: The majority (79%) of patients died on comfort care, with 61% dying within minutes to hours of decision to transition to comfort care, often associated with terminal extubation, while 39% of patients lived greater than 12 hours with an average time from comfort care to death of 72 hours. Palliative care was consulted on 46% of patients prior to death. Hospice was consulted on 17% of all mortalities. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding patient volumes and demographics is essential for operational planning and to ensure high-quality care can be delivered. Hospital-based GIP programs provide an opportunity to improve end-of-life care for patients that are unable to be discharged.