How could hospitalisations at the end of life have been avoided? A qualitative retrospective study of the perspectives of general practitioners, nurses and family carers

▸ De Korte-Verhoef MC, Pasman HR, Schweitzer BP, et al. PLoS ONE 2015;10:e0118971.

This interview-based study explored how hospitalisation at the end of life can be reduced. Twenty-six general practitioners (GPs), 15 nurses and 18 family carers who were involved with 20 hospitalised and 10 non-hospitalised patients, were interviewed. The five key themes to help reduce hospitalisation at the end of life were: (1) marking the approach of death and shifting the mindset, which includes diagnosing dying and communicating this; (2) being able to provide acute treatment and care at home, 24 h a day; (3) anticipatory discussions and interventions to deal with expected severe problems as people approached the end of life, including preferred priorities for care and place of death; (4) guiding and monitoring the patient and family in …