Application of interdisciplinary collaborative hospice care for terminal geriatric cancer patients: a prospective randomized controlled study

• Published in: Supportive care in cancer Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 3553 - 3561
• Main Authors: Liu, Yong, Shen, Yin, Pan, Qinghua, He, Huasheng, Zou, Houwen, Huang, Zuochao, Liu, Zhiping, Wang, Xiaomao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.04.2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Aged patients; Cancer; Cancer patients; Collaboration; Geriatrics; Hospice Care; Hospices; Hospices (Terminal care); Humans; Interdisciplinary aspects; Medical prognosis; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neoplasms - psychology; Nursing; Nursing Research; Oncology; Oncology, Experimental; Original Article; Pain Medicine; Palliative care; Palliative Care - methods; Palliative treatment; Patients; Prospective Studies; Rehabilitation Medicine; Terminal Care - psychology; Palliative care; Life-sustaining treatments; Terminal patients; Geriatric cancer patients; Interdisciplinary collaborative hospice care; Hospice care
• ISSN: 0941-4355; 1433-7339
• DOI: 10.1007/s00520-022-06816-x

Background Hospice care (HC) is specialized medical care for terminal patients who are nearing the end of life. Interdisciplinary collaborative hospice care (ICHC) is where experts from different disciplines and patients/caregivers form a treatment team to establish shared patient care goals. However, the ICHC efficacy has not been frequently studied in the terminal geriatric cancer patient (TGCP) population. This study aimed to gain insight into ICHC provided to TGCPs by an ICHC team and identify factors to ameliorate multidimensional HC. Methods 166 TGCPs were randomized by a computer-generated random number table using an allocation ratio of 1:1. The patients were divided into the ICHC group and life-sustaining treatment (LST) group. The scores of these questionnaires, such as EORTC, QLQ-C30, Hamilton anxiety scale, the median survival time (MST), symptoms improvement, the median average daily cost of drugs (MADDC), the median total cost of drugs (MTDC) in the last 2 days, and medical care satisfaction were observed in both groups. Results After treatment, the improvement of emotional function and symptoms in the ICHC group were statistically higher than those in the LST group ( P  < 0.05). The MADDC and the MTDC in the last 2 days were statistically lower in the ICHC group than those in the LSTs group ( P  < 0.01). In addition, the overall satisfaction situation and the cooperation ability in the ICHC group were statistically higher than those in the LST group ( P  < 0.01). Conclusion The ICHC could provide TGCPs with coordinated, comfortable, high-quality, and humanistic care.