End-of-life-care for Chinese patients in acute care ward setting: experience in an oncology ward and report on a pilot project on the use of an integrated care pathway.

摘要

Dear Sir Our institute provides services to cancer patients in various stages of their illness. The ward providing in-patient care is an acute care ward setting, and hospice beds are booked for patients who require prolonged in-patient stays for symptom control and palliative care. However, some patients die in our ward instead of being transferred to hospices as hospice beds may not be available before their deaths, or their conditions are not fit for transfer by the time hospice beds become available. Most of them do not die from acute complications.