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Investigation burden for patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease at the end of life
Author(s) -
Guo Hui,
Mann Jennifer,
Goh Nicole,
Smallwood Natasha
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/imj.14856
Subject(s) - medicine , interstitial lung disease , referral , end of life care , palliative care , disease , audit , intensive care medicine , advance care planning , retrospective cohort study , emergency medicine , lung , family medicine , nursing , management , economics
Fibrotic interstitial lung disease (f‐ILD) has a guarded prognosis, and the goal of therapy in advanced‐stage disease should be symptom‐based. Despite this, patients may still undergo burdensome investigation at the end of life. A retrospective audit was performed on 67 patients who died from f‐ILD at the Royal Melbourne and Austin Hospitals between 2012 and 2016. Increased investigation burden was associated with lack of outpatient palliative care referral and documented advance care plan, and admission to a high‐dependency unit. Eighteen per cent of patients underwent ongoing investigations after the institution of comfort care. These findings highlight the unmet end‐of‐life care needs of people with f‐ILD.