TY - JOUR
T1 - Dying in times of the coronavirus: An online survey among healthcare professionals about end-of-life care for patients dying with and without COVID-19 (the CO-LIVE study)
AU - Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D.
AU - Pasman, H. Roeline W.
AU - Korfage, Ida J.
AU - Witkamp, Erica
AU - Zee, Masha
AU - van Lent, Liza G. G.
AU - Goossensen, Anne
AU - van der Heide, Agnes
N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by ZonMw, The Hague, The Netherlands (project number: 844001803). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/5/1
Y1 - 2021/5/1
N2 - Background: During the COVID-19 outbreak restricting measures may have affected the provision of good end-of-life care for patients with and without COVID-19. Aim: To describe characteristics of patients who died and the care they received, and to examine how patient characteristics, setting and visiting restrictions are related to provided care and evaluation of the dying process. Design: An open observational online survey among healthcare professionals about their experience of end-of-life care that was provided to a patient with or without COVID-19 who died between March and July 2020. Setting/participants: Healthcare professionals (nurses, physicians and others) in the Netherlands from all settings: home (n = 163), hospital (n = 249), nursing home (n = 192), hospice (n = 89) or elsewhere (n = 68). Results: Of patients reported on, 56% had COVID-19. Among these patients, 358 (84.4%) also had a serious chronic illness. Having COVID-19 was negatively, and having a serious chronic illness was positively associated with healthcare staff’s favourable appreciation of end-of-life care. Often there had been visiting restrictions in the last 2 days of life (75.8%). This was negatively associated with appreciation of care at the end of life and the dying process. Finally, care at the end of life was less favourably appreciated in hospitals and especially nursing homes, and more favourably in home settings and especially hospices. Conclusions: Our study suggests that end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic may be further optimised, especially in nursing homes and hospitals. Allowing at least some level of visits of relatives seems a key component.
AB - Background: During the COVID-19 outbreak restricting measures may have affected the provision of good end-of-life care for patients with and without COVID-19. Aim: To describe characteristics of patients who died and the care they received, and to examine how patient characteristics, setting and visiting restrictions are related to provided care and evaluation of the dying process. Design: An open observational online survey among healthcare professionals about their experience of end-of-life care that was provided to a patient with or without COVID-19 who died between March and July 2020. Setting/participants: Healthcare professionals (nurses, physicians and others) in the Netherlands from all settings: home (n = 163), hospital (n = 249), nursing home (n = 192), hospice (n = 89) or elsewhere (n = 68). Results: Of patients reported on, 56% had COVID-19. Among these patients, 358 (84.4%) also had a serious chronic illness. Having COVID-19 was negatively, and having a serious chronic illness was positively associated with healthcare staff’s favourable appreciation of end-of-life care. Often there had been visiting restrictions in the last 2 days of life (75.8%). This was negatively associated with appreciation of care at the end of life and the dying process. Finally, care at the end of life was less favourably appreciated in hospitals and especially nursing homes, and more favourably in home settings and especially hospices. Conclusions: Our study suggests that end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic may be further optimised, especially in nursing homes and hospitals. Allowing at least some level of visits of relatives seems a key component.
KW - COVID-19
KW - end of life
KW - palliative care
KW - quality of care
KW - quality of dying
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105564014&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163211003778
DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163211003778
M3 - Article
C2 - 33825567
SN - 0269-2163
VL - 35
SP - 830
EP - 842
JO - Palliative medicine
JF - Palliative medicine
IS - 5
ER -