Table 3 Symptom experience, assessment, and management in specialized palliative care (SPC) and in hospitals in the total sample. Relationships between categorical variables and settings were analyzed using the Mantel–Haenszel chi-square test
Patients in: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Palliative care characteristics | Specialized palliative care (n = 159) | Hospital (n = 439) | P-value, difference between SPC and hospital |
Symptoms and/or assessment during the last week of life | |||
Assessment of symptoms other than pain | 50 (35.2%) | 23 (8.4%) | < 0.001 |
Mouth health assessment | 114 (79.2%) | 165 (62.5%) | 0.001 |
Pain, prevalence | 114 (73.1%) | 179 (55.1%) | 0.002 |
Pain assessment | 84 (55.6%) | 62 (20.7%) | < 0.001 |
Pain alleviated | 0.001 | ||
Completely Partly Not at all | 92 (80.7%) 22 (19.3%) | 114 (63.7%) 62 (34.6%) 3 (1.7%) | |
Prescribed rescue medication for pain | 153 (97.5%) | 301 (84.1%) | < 0.001 |
Rattle, prevalence | 97 (61.8%) | 203 (58.5%) | 1.00 |
Prescribed rescue medication for rattle | 152 (96.8%) | 276 (77.3%) | < 0.001 |
Rattle alleviated | < 0.001 | ||
Completely Partly Not at all | 58 (59.8%) 36 (37.1%) 3 (3.1%) | 52 (25.6%) 142 (70.0%) 9 (4.4%) | |
Nausea, prevalence | 25 (16.2%) | 46 (15.8%) | 0.39 |
Prescribed rescue medication for nausea | 143 (91.1%) | 179 (51.6%) | < 0.001 |
Nausea alleviated | 0.24 | ||
Completely Partly Not at all | 17 (68.0%) 6 (24.0%) 2 (8.0%) | 21 (45.7%) 22 (47.8%) 3 (6.5%) | |
Anxiety, prevalence | 91 (59.9%) | 168 (58.3%) | 0.84 |
Prescribed rescue medication for anxiety | 154 (98.1%) | 270 (77.4%) | < 0.001 |
Anxiety alleviated | < 0.001 | ||
Completely Partly Not at all | 65 (71.4%) 26 (28.6%) | 80 (47.6%) 83 (49.4%) 5 (3.0%) | |
Dyspnea, prevalence | 86 (56.7%) | 217 (65.3%) | 0.016 |
Dyspnea alleviated | < 0.001 | ||
Completely Partly Not at all | 37 (43.0%) 48 (55.8%) 1 (1.2%) | 48 (22.1%) 154 (71.0%) 15 (6.9%) | |
Delirium, prevalence | 45 (29.4%) | 75 (26.8%) | 0.91 |
Delirium alleviated | 0.007 | ||
Completely Partly Not at all | 18 (40.0%) 22 (48.9%) 5 (11.1%) | 15 (20.0%) 39 (52.0%) 21 (28.0%) | |
Pressure ulcer on admission | 0.14 | ||
No pressure ulcer Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 | 123 (82.6%) 10 (6.7%) 11 (7.4%) 3 (2.0%) 2 (1.3%) | 290 (86.3%) 25 (7.4%) 14 (4.2%) 5 (1.5%) 2 (0.6%) | |
Pressure ulcer at death | 0.037 | ||
No pressure ulcer Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 | 102 (67.5%) 22 (14.6%) 19 (12.6%) 5 (3.3%) 3 (2.0%) | 260 (75.6%) 48 (14.0%) 22 (6.4%) 11 (3.2%) 3 (0.9%) | |
Parenteral or enteral infusion of fluids in the last 24 h | < 0.001 | ||
No Yes | 143 (95.3%) 7 (4.7%) | 222 (62.5%) 133 (37.5%) | |