Research Article
Physician Attitudes on the Provision of Palliative Care in Puerto Rican Emergency Departments
Melissa Rosado Rivera* and Fernando Soto Torres
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Melissa Rosado Rivera
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of Puerto Rico, San Juan
Puerto Rico, USA
Tel: 787-485-1133
Fax: 787-750-0930
E-mail: melirosa_26@yahoo.com
Received date: Octomber 24, 2014, Accepted date: December 9, 2014, Published date: December 17, 2014
Citation: Rivera MR, Torres FS (2015) Physician Attitudes on the Provision of Palliative Care in Puerto Rican Emergency Departments. J Palliat Care Med 5:201. doi:10.4172/2165-7386.1000201
Copyright: © 2015 Rivera RM, 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
Objective: Although many institutions in the United States have incorporated palliative care practices in their emergency departments, very little has occurred in Puerto Rico. Information regarding palliative care training of emergency medicine physicians in Puerto Rico is unclear and most physicians have poor or no access to palliative care services for their patients. This study explores the perceptions and barriers encountered by practicing emergency physicians in providing palliative care in Puerto Rican Emergency Departments.
Methods: A survey was administered to physicians attending the American College of Emergency Physicians Puerto Rico Chapter annual Convention. Attending physicians and residents from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine validated the survey tool via a “content validity” approach. Participants were asked to respond to Likert scaled statements with options that ranged from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree”. The statements addressed physician comfort level with provision of palliative care and discussion of end of life issues, as well as barriers encountered by providers such as time constraints, fear of lawsuits, and lack of access to specialists among others.
Results: Of the 85 physicians at the convention 59 provided surveys available for review for a response rate of 70%. Of those surveyed, 35% reported feeling some level of discomfort at providing palliative care in the ED and 39.6% agreed or strongly agreed that their lack of training in palliative care affects their ability to provide this service. In addition, 81% lack access to palliative care specialists/ teams in the emergency department. However, 82.8% agreed or strongly agreed that palliative care is an important competence for emergency physicians.
Conclusions: Despite recognizing palliative care as an important competence, emergency physicians in Puerto Rico reported insufficiencies in training, decreased level of comfort, and lack of access to specialists in palliative care. Efforts to enhance physician training and provide palliative care resources must be pursued in order to improve the quality of care given to patients visiting Puerto Rican Emergency departments.
