Research Article
Effectiveness of a Geriatrics and Palliative Care Consultation on Symptom Management and Geriatric Syndromes
Angelica E Davila1, Jeanette S Ross1,2, Scotte Hartronft1,2, Mary Garza1,2, Shuko Lee2 and Sandra Sanchez-Reilly1,2*1Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, USA
2GEC and GRECC, The South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, TX, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Sandra Sanchez-Reilly
Associate Professor, Palliative Medicine Section Chief Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program Director
Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Medicine
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the South Texas Veterans Health Care System
7703 Floyd Curl Drive MC 7875, San Antonio, Texas 78229, USA
E-mail: sanchezreill@uthscsa.edu
Received date: March 03, 2012; Accepted date: May 07, 2012; Published date: May 08, 2012
Citation: Davila AE, Ross JS, Hartronft S, Garza M, Lee S, et al. (2012) Effectiveness of a Geriatrics and Palliative Care Consultation on Symptom Management and Geriatric Syndromes. J Palliative Care Med 2:116. doi:10.4172/2165-7386.1000116
Copyright: © 2012 Davila AE, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
With the increase in geriatric patientsand the wide spectrum of their illnesses, geriatricians and palliative care physicians would benefit from combining their expertise in treating chronically and terminally ill elder patients in a hospital setting. The objective of our pilot study was to determine if a Geriatric Palliative Care consult could improve pain management and prevent geriatric syndromes in elder patients. Our data was collected from a retrospective chart review of subjects older than 65 years-old who received combined Geriatrics and Palliative Care consult from a combined Geriatrics Palliative Care team. Previously validated instruments identified pain score and level of comorbidity. A total of 60 charts were reviewed. Results showed a Geriatric Palliative Care consultation lowered pain score from pre-consult to post-consult (2.63 vs. 1.17; p=0.012) and effectively improved pain in 20% of subjects (41.7% vs. 21.7%; p=0.002). The Geriatric Palliative Care consult team effectively lowered the in-hospital complication of restraints (11.7% vs. 3.3%; p=0.025) and also had a positive effect on delirium and advance directives (p=0.5). In conclusion, Geriatric Palliative Care consults have shown to improve the quality of care for older adults by effectively managing pain symptoms and improving pain scores among 20% of the subjects.
