Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Apr 2019
Appointment utilization as a trigger for palliative care introduction: A retrospective cohort study.
Chronic kidney disease palliative care guidelines would benefit from more diverse and objectively defined health status measures. ⋯ Our model could justify the creation of a novel palliative care introduction trigger, as patients with medium demand for care may benefit from additional palliative care evaluation. The trigger could facilitate the uniformization of conservative treatment preparations. It could prompt messages to a managing physician when a patient crosses the threshold between low and medium appointment utilization. It may also aid in system-level policy development. Furthermore, our results highlight the benefit of significant appointment utilization among high-risk patients.