ArticleBMJ supportive & palliative care2017
How well do we currently care for our dying patients in acute hospitals: the views of the bereaved relatives?
Article in BMJ supportive & palliative care, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03566732 (International Care Of the Dying Evaluation), which is not on this map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
International Care Of the Dying Evaluation (CODE): Quality of Care for Cancer Patients as Perceived by Bereaved Relatives
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Formative evaluation of an employee-driven approach to improve care in the dying phase in hospitals.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Trial
- How to Evaluate Hospital Care in the Dying Phase-Development of a Data Extraction Tool for Retrospective Medical Record Analysis.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025Article
- "You're just in such crisis mode…frantic to get through the next day": an interpretative phenomenological analysis of adjustment experiences among carers of patients with advanced oesophago-gastric cancer.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Article
- Dying, death and bereavement: developing a national survey of bereaved relatives.BMC palliative care · 2023Review
- Medical communication and decision-making about assisted hydration in the last days of life: A qualitative study of doctors experienced with end of life care.Palliative medicine · 2022Article
- Dying in hospital in Germany - optimising care in the dying phase: study protocol for a multi-centre bottom-up intervention on ward level.BMC palliative care · 2022Article
- Palliative Care in Older People with Multimorbidities: A Scoping Review on the Palliative Care Needs of Patients, Carers, and Health Professionals.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Physical and psychological symptoms and signs in dying digestive tract cancer patients: the East Asian collaborative cross-cultural Study to Elucidate the Dying process (EASED).Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Article
- Good Quality Care for Cancer Patients Dying in Hospitals, but Information Needs Unmet: Bereaved Relatives' Survey within Seven Countries.The oncologist · 2021Article
- Assessment of the quality of end-of-life care: translation and validation of the German version of the "Care of the Dying Evaluation" (CODE-GER) - a questionnaire for bereaved relatives.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2020Article
- The quality of care of the dying in hospital-next-of-kin perspectives.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2020Article
- Unmet needs of patients with cancer in their last year of life as described by caregivers in a developing world setting: a qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2020Article
- Dying in acute hospitals: voices of bereaved relatives.BMC palliative care · 2019Article
- Assessing quality of care for the dying from the bereaved relatives' perspective: Using pre-testing survey methods across seven countries to develop an international outcome measure.Palliative medicine · 2019Observational
- Voices that matter: end-of-life care in two acute hospitals from the perspective of bereaved relatives.BMC palliative care · 2018Article
- Quality assurance for care of the dying: engaging with clinical services to facilitate a regional cross-sectional survey of bereaved relatives' views.BMC health services research · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe National Care of the Dying Audit-Hospitals (NCDAH) is used as a method to evaluate care for dying patients in England. An additional component to the 2013/2014 audit was the Local Survey of Bereaved Relatives Views using the 'Care Of the Dying Evaluation' (CODE) questionnaire.
aimWithin the context of the NCDAH audit, to evaluate quality of care provided to dying patients and their families in acute hospitals from the perspective of bereaved relatives.
designPostbereavement survey to bereaved relatives. SETTING/
participantsFor acute hospitals wishing to participate, consecutive 'expected' adult deaths occurring between 1 May and 30 June 2013 were identified and the CODE questionnaire was sent to the next-of-kin.
resultsFrom 3414 eligible next-of-kin, 95 (2.8%) were excluded due to being involved in a complaint procedure and 1006 (29.5%) due to insufficient next-of-kin details. From the remaining 2313 potential participants, 858 returned a completed CODE questionnaire (37.1% response rate). Generally, symptoms were perceived to be well controlled with 769 (91%) participants reporting that either no pain was present or only there 'some of the time'. Unmet information needs, however, was a recognised area for improvement, for example, 230 (29%) reporting having a discussion about hydration would have been beneficial.
conclusionsAdopting a postbereavement survey to NCDAH appears to be feasible, acceptable and a valuable addition. On the whole, the majority of participants reported good or excellent care. A small but significant minority, however, perceived poor quality of patient care with clear and timely communication urgently needed.
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