Purpose: In Korea, hospice palliative care (HPC) provision for cancer patients has increased recently. However, whether end of life (EoL) care practices have improved along with the development of HPC is unclear. We intended to investigate the changes in EoL care practices and their association with HPC referral.
Materials and methods: Retrospective medical record review of adult cancer patients who died at National Cancer Center Korea from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2014 was performed. Changes of EoL practices including chemotherapy within 2 weeks from death, death in intensive care unit (ICU), documentation of "do not resuscitate (DNR)" within 7 days from death and referral to HPC from 2009 to 2014 were analyzed as well as the association between referral to HPC and other practices.
Results: A total of 2,377 cases were included in the analysis. Between 2009 and 2014, referral to HPC increased and DNR documentation within 7 days from death decreased significantly. Cases for chemotherapy within 2 weeks from death and death in ICU didn't change over the study period. Patients referred to HPC were less likely to receive chemotherapy within 2 weeks from death, die in ICU and document DNR within 7 days from death.
Conclusion: During the study period, EoL practices among cancer patients partly changed toward less aggressive in our institution. HPC referral was associated with less aggressive cancer care at the EoL. Policies to promote EoL discussion are necessary to improve the EoL practices of cancer patients.
Keywords: Aggressiveness; Chemotherapy; Hospice and palliative care; Neoplasms; Terminal care.