Table 4 Hospital and community healthcare utilisation during the last four weeks of life

Hospital days, Mdn (range)

6 (0 - 28)

20 (0 - 28)

5 (1 - 26)

7 (0 - 28)

4 (0 - 28)

0.035^a

Care setting before hospital admission^b, n (%)

n = 88

n = 17

n = 23

n = 26

n = 22

 Home

37 (42)

11 (64)

0 (0)

16 (62)

10 (45)

NA^c

 Other hospital

35 (40)

3 (18)

23 (100)

4 (15)

5 (23)

NA^c

 Emergency department

8 (9)

3 (18)

0 (0)

4 (15)

1 (5)

NA^c

 Outpatient clinic

7 (8)

0 (0)

0 (0)

1 (4)

6 (27)

NA^c

 Long-term institution

1 (1)

0 (0)

0 (0)

1 (4)

0 (0)

NA^c

Patients at home at least for one day, n (%)

72 (48)

11 (58)

3 (5)

27 (75)

31 (84)

<  0.001^a

Days spent at home, Mdn (range)

0 (0 - 28)

8 (0 - 28)

0 (0 - 16)

21 (0 - 28)

24 (0 - 28)

0.001^a

Care days with community care service^d,

n = 72

n = 11

n = 3

n = 27

n = 31

 Mdn (range)

1 (0 - 28)

0 (0 - 24)

1 (0 - 5)

5 (0 - 28)

0 (0 - 28)

0.001^a

Hours of care by community care service^d

n = 36

n = 5

n = 2

n = 15

n = 14

 Mdn (range)

34 (2 - 315)

12 (7 - 190)

6 (3 - 8)

38 (4 - 315)

23 (2 - 108)

0.111^a

 Family education/support, n (%)

35 (97)

5 (100)

2 (100)

14 (93)

14 (100)

NA^c

 Needs assessment, n (%)

31 (86)

4 (80)

1 (50)

13 (87)

13 (93)

NA^c

 Monitoring of vital signs/general condition, n (%)

29 (81)

5 (100)

2 (100)

13 (87)

9 (64)

NA^c

 Administration of medication, n (%)

25 (69)

5 (100)

0 (0)

10 (67)

10 (71)

NA^c

 Interventions related to enteral feeds, n (%)

22 (61)

5 (100)

1 (50)

13 (87)

3 (21)

NA^c

 Respiratory interventions, n (%)

18 (50)

2 (40)

0 (0)

11 (73)

5 (36)

NA^c

 Interventions related to excretion, n (%)

14 (39

1 (20)

0 (0)

6 (40)

7 (50)

NA^c