BACKGROUND<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">Identifying the patient-specific, disease-related, and hospitalization profiles of admitted patients referred to the Palliative & Hospice Care Program (PHCP)—including the pattern of services rendered to them over a period of three years is valuable groundwork statistics for a nascent institution looking into improving their service delivery.p>METHODS<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">After total population sampling of 304 distinct referral cases from July 2021 to June 2024, a retrospective chart review on electronic medical records uploaded to the Health Information Management Systems was done. With approval from the institutional ethics board, and guided by a data collection form, data were gathered and prepared upon completion before subjecting to descriptive statistics.p>RESULTS<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">Majority of patients referred to the PHCP were elderly (50.56%), with a higher prevalence of females (60.2%). Most were of Roman Catholic faith (94.7%). Most referrals were cancer cases (74.24%) with dyspnea (26.9%) as the usual complaint upon admission. More than half of the referrals were from Internal Medicine (58.1%). Half of the patients expired during their hospital stay (52.3%). Average time from admission to referral was 8.49 days on the overall mean length of stay of 13.46 days. Psychosocial Support (97.37%), Transition to Home Care (42.11%), and Motivational Counseling (32.24%) were the most frequently rendered PHCP service to the referred cases during the three-year study period.p>CONCLUSION<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">The demand for psychosocial support and transition-to-home services spells the need for capacity building of community-led initiatives and home-based interventions. Reapplication of the study method to other institutions in future studies is recommended to help gain broader perspective on palliative care service delivery. Overall, the increasing trend in in-patient referrals underscores the growing recognition of the importance of palliative care in improving patient outcomes and quality experience at the of life.p>
Human ; Hospice Care

BACKGROUND<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">Th Philippines has faced challenges in quality end-of-life care and ranks poorly on the 2015 Quality of Death Index. This study explores the perceptions of a good death among patients, caregivers, and bereaved family members within the Palliative and Hospice Care Program of Ospital ng Makati.p>OBJECTIVE<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">The research aimed to offer insights into the factors that influence end-of-life care preferences in the Philippine context.p>METHODS<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">The study involved 38 participants – patients, caregivers, and bereaved family members. It adapted and modified the Good Death Inventory, a validated scale with 47 questions covering 18 domains related to end-of-life care.p>RESULTS<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">Results show significant differences in perceptions of a good death among patients, caregivers, and bereaved family members. Maintaining hope and pleasure, having control over the future, and a good relationship with medical staff were identified as top priorities while dying in a favorite place was of lower importance. Caregivers and bereaved members valued patient autonomy, with higher importance placed on being respected as an individual and feeling that one’s life is worth living. Additionally, spiritual comfort was more significant for caregivers and bereaved family members. The study highlights the importance of understanding distinct preferences in the context of end-of-life care. The findings also call for longer data collection periods, larger sample sizes, and potential qualitative research methods.p>CONCLUSION<p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">By addressing these nuances, healthcare providers can better improve end-of-life care, ensuring that patients and their families experience a more positive and meaningful transition at this crucial stage of life.p>
Human ; Palliative Care ; Hospice Care

Background: The Ospital ng Makati is a tertiary government hospital that is currently on its birthing phase of establishing the palliative foundation in the hospital in terms of the handling the terminally ill and dying patients by providing them quality of life while in the hospital and if still possible, to assist the family in the transition to home care. Objective: The objective was to determine the baseline knowledge, attitude and practices of the resident physicians who are undergoing training in the Ospital ng Makati. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the resident physicians of Ospital ng Makati to know the knowledge, attitude and practices with regards to the assessment of their end of life care understanding. A self-administered validated questionnaire was distributed among the participants from a previous study done by Pamplona that was utilized to facilitate the survey. Results: A total of 65 people took part in the study, with a median age of 20 to 39 years old. The majority of the participants were female (40%) and Roman Catholic 60 (92.3% ). The department of Pediatrics had a significant number of participants (24.6%). The University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center had a significant number of the participants 13 (20%). The majority 25. (38.5%) of the respondents are generally first years. The total of 65 respondents resulted to overall response rate of 56.5%. Conclusion The findings demonstrated that knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to palliative care were identified through this cross-sectional report. Interestingly, even though the majority of the participants had no prior exposure or rotation to palliative and hospice care and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the notion of palliative and hospice medicine, they had an appropriate understanding of palliative medicine in general.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Terminal Care ; Knowledge