Palliative inpatients in general hospitals: a one day observational study in Belgium

We conducted a one-day observational study in 14 randomly selected Belgian hospitals. Patients who met the definition of palliative patients were identified as palliative. Then, information about their socio-demographic characteristics, diagnoses, prognosis, and care plan were recorded and analysed.There were 2639 in-patients on the day of the study; 9.4% of them were identified as "palliative". The mean age of the group was 72 years. The primary diagnosis was cancer in 51% of patients and the estimated life expectancy was shorter than 3 months in 33% of patients and longer than 1 year in 28% of patients. The professional caregivers expected for most of the patients (73%), that the treatment would improve patient comfort rather than prolong life. Antibiotics, transfusions, treatments specific to the pathology, and artificial nutrition were administered in 90%, 78%, 57% and 50% of the patients, respectively, but were generally given with a view to controlling the symptoms.This analysis presents a first national estimate of the palliative inpatient population. Our results confirm that hospitals play a major role at the end-of-life, with one out of ten inpatients identified as a "palliative" patient. These data also demonstrate the complexity of the palliative population and the substantial diversity of care that they can require.WHO defined palliative care as ''the active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment' [1]. In Belgium, palliative care relies on this definition and is provided in different settings: home care, residential units or hospices. These 51 residential units have 379 palliative beds, i.e. an insufficient number of beds in view of the palliative care demand. Therefore, every acute hospital is subsidized for an intramural palliative support team. Recently, 6 day centres have been created in Belgium. All these services are specialized in the care of palliative patients with more complex needs. The patients not treate