Collaboration between physicians and a hospital-based palliative care team in a general acute-care hospital in Japan

Table 2 Experience, knowledge, and education of study participants according to attitudes toward continual collaboration with PCTs

		Continual collaboration
		Positive n= 124^a	Negative n= 20^a	P-value
Experience:
Request PCT consultation		99 (80%)	13 (65%)	0.15
Training in medical care at home		54 (44%)	4 (20%)	0.05
Medical care at home		49 (40%)	8 (40%)	1.00
Communication (mean and median with ranges)^b:
place of care	with patients	5.4, 6 (1--7)	5.1, 5 (2--7)	0.37
	with family	6.1, 7 (1--7)	5.3, 6 (2--7)	0.03
place of death	with patients	4.4, 4 (1--7)	3.2, 4 (1--7)	0.01
	with family	5.7, 6 (1--7)	4.4, 4 (1--7)	0.01
symptoms of dying	with patients	4.3, 4 (1--7)	3.3, 4 (1--7)	0.04
	with family	5.7, 6 (1--7)	4.9, 5 (1--7)	0.04
DNR	with patients	4.3, 4 (1--7)	4.1, 4 (1--7)	0.75
	with family	6.4, 6 (1--7)	6.2, 7 (1--7)	0.31
Knowledge:
About WHO analgesic ladder		99 (80%)	6 (39%)	<0.01
Education: (among subjects with knowledge of the WHO analgesic ladder)
Where knowledge about WHO analgesic ladder was acquired^c:
medical school		43 (43%)	3 (50%)	0.12
postgraduate education		34 (34%)	5 (83%)	1.00
conference or workshop		8 (8%)	1 (17%)	1.00
paper or technical book		23 (23%)	2 (33%)	0.53
through PCT consultation		25 (25%)	2 (23%)	0.37

^a The totals do not match because of missing values.
^bAnswers ranged from "inapplicable" (1 point) to "applicable" (7 points).
^cMultiple answers were allowed and each item was analyzed in terms of "yes" vs. "no" responses.

ISSN: 1472-684X