The epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of patients in hospice care

The Good Samaritan Hospice in Lublin was created in 1989. At the beginning only home care was available but since 1997 stationary care is. The aim of the article was to present the clinical-population characteristics of patients treated terminally in the hospice in the year 2000. Over 294 patients were evaluated, and 173 within this group were treated in ward and died in the ward. The remaining 121 patients were treated out of the ward and died at home. It was estimated that the majority of the hospice patients were people from the city (81.7%) with primary or vocational education. The average age was 66.4 and the most numerous group (58.2%) consisted of patients older than 60. Women were more likely to be treated at the hospice (55.5%). The most frequent reason of death among the hospice patients were cancers of: the alimentary tract (26%), the respiratory system (13.9%), feminine sexual organs (11.6%), and the urinary system (10.9%). 43.5% of the patients were unaware of the diagnosis, and only 34.4% were treated radically. The majority (65.6%) was treated either palliative or symptomatically. The average duration of the in-ward treatment was 22.1 days and was considerably shorter in comparison to the duration of the treatment provided at home. Concluding, the in-ward terminal care is a short term care.