Types and rate of implementation of palliative care team recommendations for care of hospitalized veterans.

Background: Hospital-based interdisciplinary palliative care teams (PCTs) are increasingly being established to meet the growing demand for high quality care for patients with life-limiting illnesses in which the goal is comfort rather than cure. Two recent studies suggest that PCTs teams are highly effective in influencing care of patients within large academic medical centers. The current study examines whether the previously demonstrated success of palliative care teams within subspecialty academic health centers could be replicated in an urban Veterans Affairs medical center (VAMC). Objective: To describe the characteristics of patients referred to, recommendations made by, and implementation rate of an interdisciplinary PCT in an urban VAMC. Design: Retrospective, observational study. Setting/Subjects: One hundred patients referred by inpatient doctor to the PCT between October 1999 and March 2002 in a 214-bed VA hospital in the New York City area. Measurements: Patient demographics, prevalence of fi...