Background: The transition of patients from the intensive care unit (ICU) to the palliative care (PC) ward often implies changes including establishing a palliative concept. Adaptation of therapeutic goals can be challenging for medical staff, patients and relatives; however, descriptions of these transition trajectories are rare.
Objective: The aim of this retrospective study was to characterize the consultation requests of the ICU to the PC consultation team as well as the patients by a description of trajectories and interventions.
Methods: Retrospective analysis of all patients receiving intensive care at RWTH Aachen University Hospital in 2019 for whom a PC consultation was requested. The patient population transferred from the ICU to the PC ward was compared with the non-transferred population. In each case, the primary consultation was evaluated regarding the following factors: question, vigilance, length of time from consultation request to its performance, and primary focus of the question. The question focus was categorized into "symptom control", "counselling" and "transfer" (tick options). In addition, a free text field was available for further notes. Exploration of diagnoses was complemented by accessing the electronic health records.
Results: A total of 102 consultation requests from the ICU to the PC ward were evaluated. The morbidity of patients was high, and most patients had at least one of the following diagnoses: pulmonary (62%), cardiovascular (61%), and/or neurological disease (55%). Of the patients 32 (31%) were transferred to the PC ward, among whom weakness (94%), fatigue (77%), anxiety (55%), pain (53%), and dyspnea (48%) were the most frequently noted symptoms. Of the transferred patients 5 (16%) could be discharged to home, nursing home, hospice or other. In total, 35 (34%) of all patients who were seen by palliative care specialists on ICUs in 2019 could be discharged alive. The most frequent reasons for nonadmission were lack of capacity of the PC ward (33%), dying while being on the waiting list (20%), and refusal by the patient (20%). Of the patients, 7 (26%) died within 48 h after they had been transferred to the PC ward. Performed consultation services "symptom control" (χ2 = 10.17; p < 0.05) and "counselling" (χ2 = 12.82; p < 0.001), which were requested by the intensive care physicians, showed a significant linkage with the respective intervention performed by the palliative care team. On the other hand, no statistically significant difference was found for requested and performed "transfer" of patients from ICUs to PC ward. Comparing the transferred versus non-transferred patient population, a significantly more frequent transfer of patients with malignant tumors (p = 0.00) was observed.
Conclusion: The need for palliative care support in the ICUs exceeded the admission capacity of the PC ward. Future studies should further examine palliative care models in intensive care medicine.
Zusammenfassung: HINTERGRUND: Die Verlegung von Patient:innen der Intensivstation (ITS) auf die Palliativstation (PTS) geht meist mit der Festlegung eines palliativen Konzeptes einher. Die Anpassung der Therapieziele mit primärem Fokus auf Lebensqualität und Symptomkontrolle kann für medizinisches Personal, Patient:innen und Angehörige herausfordernd sein. Beschreibungen dieser Transition sind jedoch rar.
Fragestellung: Ziel der Studie war die Charakterisierung der von den intensivmedizinischen Stationen gestellten Konsile an die Palliativmedizin sowie der Patient:innen durch Beschreibung der Versorgungspfade und Interventionen.
Methode: Retrospektive, quantitative Analyse aller im Jahr 2019 intensivmedizinisch betreuten Patient:innen der Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, für die ein palliativmedizinisches Konsil angefordert worden war.
Ergebnisse: Es wurden n = 102 Konsilanfragen der ITS an die Palliativmedizin ausgewertet. Fünf von 32 (16 %) auf die PTS übernommenen Konsilpatient:innen bzw. 35 (34 %) aller 102 Patient:innen konnten in das häusliche Umfeld oder eine stationäre Einrichtung (Pflegeheim, Hospiz, andere) entlassen werden. Die häufigsten Gründe einer Nichtübernahme waren: fehlende Kapazität der PTS (33 %), Versterben auf der Warteliste (20 %) und Ablehnung durch die Patient:innen (20 %). Die durch die Intensivmediziner:innen angefragten konsiliarischen Leistungen „Symptomkontrolle“ (χ2 = 10,17; p < 0,05) und „Beratung“ (χ2 = 12,82; p < 0,001) zeigten einen signifikanten Zusammenhang mit der jeweils durch die Palliativmediziner:innen durchgeführten Intervention.
Schlussfolgerung: Der Bedarf palliativmedizinischer Unterstützung der ITS überstieg die Aufnahmekapazität der PTS. Zukünftige Studien sollten Versorgungsmodelle palliativmedizinischer Unterstützung in der Intensivmedizin näher untersuchen.
Keywords: Consultation team; Intensive care; Palliative care; Symptom management; Transition.
© 2023. The Author(s).