Scandinavian journal of caring sciences
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Comparative Study
Pain control at the end of life: a comparative study of hospitalized cancer and noncancer patients.
Pain is a common symptom in dying patients. Previous studies have paid little attention to pain and pain control in terminally ill patients with diseases other than cancer. ⋯ Pain is a highly prevalent symptom among dying hospitalized patients. Healthcare workers consistently documented more pain in cancer patients and also assessed that the intensity of pain was more severe in these patients than in noncancer patients. The dying patients' intensity of pain was poorly documented.
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Achieving home death is often seen as an important endpoint in palliative care, but no studies of the preferred place-of-death have yet been conducted in Scandinavia. Furthermore, we do not know if professionals' report on deceased patients' preference of place-of-death is a valid information. The aim of this study was to describe where terminally ill Danish cancer patients prefer to die and to determine if their preference changed during the palliative period, as reported retrospectively by bereaved relatives, general practitioners (GPs) and community nurses (CNs) and to assess the agreement of their accounts. ⋯ The preference weakened significantly as death approached. The agreement between relatives' and GPs' accounts on patients' preferences at the end of the palliative period was 'substantial', whereas the agreement between relatives' and CNs' accounts at the same time was significantly less outspoken. This indicates that CNs may be facing a problem in assessing their patients' wishes retrospectively.