Introduction: The place of death has been increasingly studied in palliative care and end-of-life care. Addressing the preferences of patients and their families has been a concern of health professionals. Within the context of patient-centered palliative care, the place of death is considered an indicator of quality of end-of-life care. Methodology: The main objective of the study was to evaluate the congruency between the desired and actual death site in patients admitted to the UCP in Portugal. It was an observational, analytical, prospective epidemiological study. The population was constituted by patients admitted to the Palliative Care Units in Portugal from January 2017 to December 2017. Results and discussion: The sample consisted of 151 patients. The median age was 73 years. 53% were male. Oncologic disease was the most common. The most frequent tumors were gastrointestinal 35.5%, followed by respiratory tract (14.3%) and breast (13.6%). Regarding the desired site of death and the actual site, only 67 patients were studied. Of these, 37.5% wanted to die at home (family, own or friend) and died in the UCP, 49.3 wanted to die in the UCP and died in the UCP, 1 who wanted to die in the UCP died in the Hospital, 4.5% died in the Hospital but died in the UCP, 3% did not know and 4.5% preferred not to say. In general there was no congruence between the actual death and the desired one. The factors associated with the choice of place of death could not be identified due to lack of statistical significance. Conclusion: In conclusion there is still a large discrepancy between where people prefer to die and where they actually.
Date of Award | 28 Nov 2019 |
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Original language | Portuguese |
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Awarding Institution | - Universidade Católica Portuguesa
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Supervisor | Manuel Luís Capelas (Supervisor) |
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- End of life
- Congruence between desired and real place of death
- Mestrado em Cuidados Paliativos
Congruência entre o local de morte desejado e o real (doentes internados em unidades de cuidados paliativos)
Ferreira, G. K. D. S. R. (Student). 28 Nov 2019
Student thesis: Master's Thesis