Early documentation of hospice patients' end-of-life wishes in the EHR may reduce their likelihood of hospitalization, according to a study published in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Researchers from The Ohio State University in Columbus analyzed EHR data for 1,185 cancer patients at a large academic medical center who were referred to hospice between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2015. The study revealed that a do-not-resuscitate order, placed in the EHR before a patient's last 30 days of life, reduced hospitalization rates. EHR notes on end-of-life planning also reduced admission rates, especially when the notes were created six months prior to a patient's death.
Past studies have shown that only 13 percent to 44 percent of dying patients have end-of-life documentation in their EHRs, according to Ohio State News. The study's findings could encourage providers to discuss more consistent documentation of terminal patients' plans, said Laura Prater, PhD, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in the division of general internal medicine at Ohio State's College of Medicine.
Researchers also emphasized physicians' responsibilities in improving documentation of end-of-life planning. "We in healthcare need to not absolve ourselves of our responsibility to talk about these things," Seuli Bose-Brill, MD, a primary care physician at Columbus-based Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, said.