The Efficacy of Hospice Care for Terminally Ill Emergency Patients During the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic

Qing-Ling Wang,1,&ast; Bin-Ru Han,2,&ast; Peng Yue3 1Department of Emergency, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Nursing, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Nursing, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Qing-Ling Wang, Department of Emergency, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 45 of Changchun Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, 100053, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13693377666, Fax +86 10 8316 1294, Email PengYue_yp@163.comObjective: This study aimed to explore the efficacy of hospice care for terminally ill emergency patients in the COVID-19 context.Methods: A total of 86 terminally ill emergency patients at the authors’ hospital from February 2020 to October 2020 were included in this study, they were randomly allocated into a control (n = 42) and an intervention (n = 44) group, respectively. The control group received routine nursing care, and the intervention group received hospice care.Results: Following treatment, the survival time (as the primary outcome) in the intervention group was longer than in the control group (P < 0.05). Distress thermometer and psychological pain-related factor scores for the intervention group were lower than those of the control group (P < 0.001 for both). The comfort scores of all dimensions in the intervention group were higher than in the control group (P < 0.05). The scores for survival puzzle, symptom distress, independence, and mental well-being in all dimensions related to a sense of dignity were lower in the intervention than in the control group (P < 0.05 for all). The intervention group’s yield, avoidance, and total scores were lower than in the control group, whereas the face score was higher than in the control group (P < 0.05 fo