Epidemiology of patients who died in the emergency departments and need of end-of-life care in Korea from 2016 to 2019

Family members' experiences of bereavement in the emergency department: A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies

The emergency department (ED) is one of the places where patient deaths frequently occur. Understanding family members' experiences of bereavement would help provide individualized bereavement care. We conducted a meta-synthesis to synthesize family members' experiences of bereavement in the ED and assess the impact of bereavement on their lives. We searched seven international electronic databases. Five studies were selected and critically appraised. Thematic analysis was employed. Five themes (with 13 subthemes) were derived: suffering sudden changes and are severely impacted, multiple feelings and needs of waiting, final farewell, personal and family difficulties after leaving the ED, and journey through grief. Family members endured agonizing waits to see and learn more about their family members' condition. Family members reported the need for effective follow-up resources. Findings revealed that it would be helpful if the EDs could provide sensitive and respectful care to family members.

The Current Status of Bereavement Care in Chinese Emergency Departments: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study

Understanding the current status and challenges of bereavement care will help facilitate the development of bereavement care in the emergency department. However, little is known about the status of bereavement care in Chinese emergency departments and nurses' perceptions of bereavement care. We used a self-made questionnaire to survey 124 head nurses and 870 emergency nurses in 21 hospitals in Jiangsu Province in September 2023. Among 124 emergency departments, 78 (62.90%) emergency departments provided bereavement care strategies, and the most frequent strategy was a waiting room, relevant information on funeral arrangements and the establishment of a relatively secluded environment conducive to the solace of the patient's family, or the provision of a dedicated farewell chamber. Emergency nurses believed that bereavement care is important but difficult to implement, with support resources, environment and human resources being the main challenges. In the future, further attention should be paid to the development of bereavement care in the emergency department, and the implementation of bereavement care should be supported in terms of policies, funds, resources and personnel.

Haemoglobin and C-reactive protein levels are efficient at identifying neoplasms as the most common early mortality of chronic diseases in emergency department patients

Introduction

Extensive research has focused on emergency department (ED) and post-admission deaths, seeking to understand their frequency and causative factors. With the rising prevalence of advanced diseases, it is crucial to identify patients in need of end-of-life care and ensure its high quality. In this epidemiological study, we analyse routine ED blood tests to identify early warning signs of deteriorating patients with common non-traumatic and non-infectious (chronic) conditions.

Material and methods

We conducted a retrospective single-centre study for the years 2016-2019 using medical records and electronic data from the Multi-Specialistic Hospital in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland. We examined 8971 unique patients with circulatory, neoplastic, and endocrine diseases. We assessed the impact of 2 grouping variables (survivors and non-survivors) on a continuous outcome variable, including age and 37 routine blood tests.

Results

Two-way analysis of variance revealed that haemoglobin (Hb), haematocrit (Hct), and C-reactive protein (CRP) are the best differentiating biomarkers for early death in ED patients with cardiovascular, oncological, and endocrine diseases (excluding Hct due to its strong correlation with Hb). The Marczewski-Steinhaus taxonomy highlighted that oncological patients had the shortest survival time, averaging just 2 days from admission among ED non-survivors.

Conclusions

Among routinely tested ED biomarkers, Hb and CRP levels are efficient at identifying neoplasms as the most common early mortality of chronic diseases in ED patients.