Caracterização de pacientes elegívéis para cuidados paliativos em unidades de internação de um hospital universitário.

Abstract

Objective: Characterize eligible patients for palliative care admitted to a university hospital. Method: Descriptive, transverse and quantitative study. Population sample was adopted, for convenience, selecting patients over 18 years, diagnosed with chronic disease, admitted to a university hospital, from June to July, 2019. Results: 44 patients participated, 29 (65,9%) female, 21 (47,7%) age group above 60 years, 28 (63,6%) not married, 36 (81,8%) living with family; 23 (52,3%) admitted to the medical clinic, 39 (88,6%) reporting previous hospitalizations; 21 (45,5%) had heart disease, cancer or diabetes, 37 (84,1%) with comorbidities, 40 (90,9%) with continuous use medications, 24 (54,5%) smokers and 18 (40,9%) alcoholists. Were eligible for palliative care 95,5% of the participants, using the instrument “Palliative Care Screening Tool” and 4,5% were under clinical observation. Conclusion: The study corroborate the relevance of implementation of a palliative care unit in the face of chronic diseases.