Screening for Distress and Its Impact on Palliative Care Referral at a General Medical Center: Retrospective Cohort Study

Reika Iki; Emiko Saito; Nobuko Wada; Hirohito Takata; Mariko Shinomiya; Masatoshi Shimada; Masako Tanaka; Chinami Yoshizumi; Hiroaki Sakai; Yuki Kataoka

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Screening for Distress and Its Impact on Palliative Care Referral at a General Medical Center: Retrospective Cohort Study

VernacularTitle:苦痛のスクリーニング導入前後の緩和ケア介入件数に関する後方視的コホート研究
Author: Reika IKI ¹ ; Emiko SAITO ² ; Nobuko WADA ¹ ; Hirohito TAKATA ² ; Mariko SHINOMIYA ³ ; Masatoshi SHIMADA ¹ ; Masako TANAKA ² ; Chinami YOSHIZUMI ¹ ; Hiroaki SAKAI ² ; Yuki KATAOKA ¹
Author Information

1. Palliative Care Department, Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki General Medical Center
2. Respiratory Medicine, Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki General Medical Center
3. Internal Medicine Department Hasegawa Naika
Keywords: distress screening; regression discontinuity analysis; palliative care team
From:Palliative Care Research 2021;16(1):93-98
CountryJapan
Language:Japanese
Abstract: Purpose: Distress screening is mandated by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan, however there is few data available on its effect in actual practice. We examined the impact of distress screening on palliative care referral at Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki General Medical Center in Japan. Materials and Methods: We implemented distress screening on cancer patients who were given chemotherapy from February 2018. Patients were referred to the palliative care team when the physicians judged the need on the basis of the screening results or when the patients themselves wanted to receive the palliative care service. We examined the number of the patients referred to the palliative care team, then we researched the changes of the number after implementation of the screening, using the regression discontinuity analysis. Results: The distress screening didn’t increase the number of the patients who were referred to the palliative care team: the estimated difference of the number was 3.32 (95% confidence interval: −3.19〜9.82). Conclusion: We implemented distress screening at our hospital but it didn’t increase palliative care referral. Only a few studies have examined how routine screening impacts clinical outcomes. We expect our study helps to research the effectiveness of screening in each healthcare facility.