Factors affecting initiation of palliative care in a Ugandan Emergency Department.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The Emergency Department (ED) of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital serves a largely rural population of 4 million people in western Uganda. Here, ED patients with incurable illness often have prolonged stays. Palliative care (PC) is a low-cost intervention that focuses on alleviating pain and suffering for patients with incurable disease, while improving satisfaction with care and optimizing healthcare utilization. This is especially important in low resource settings. A prior needs assessment in our ED revealed that 50% of patients have PC needs. The ED is an optimal location to initiate PC, yet this rarely happens. There is a great need to identify factors affecting initiation of ED PC in our resource-limited setting.

Methods

A semi-structured questionnaire a

SUBMITTER: Nalugya LG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8568603 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature