Observational studyBMC palliative care2025
A palliative care rapid access clinic reduces emergency department visits: a retrospective single centre analysis.
Observational study in BMC palliative care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Survey of Canadian specialised palliative radiotherapy programs.Clinical and translational radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Addressing Frailty in the Emergency Department: Early Outcomes of a Geriatric Rapid Access Clinic.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPatients with palliative care needs often rely on emergency departments for management of acute symptoms due to limited access to timely and appropriate outpatient care, however they can be poorly equipped to meet patients' complex needs. Rapid access clinics exist for addressing health issues such as chest pain but are not routinely established for palliative care. In 2020, the Sunshine Coast Health Palliative Care Service introduced a rapid access clinic to address patients' unmet acute care needs. This research aimed to understand the impact on clinical outcomes.
methodsA retrospective observational analysis of patient health records was undertaken for 283 admissions for 172 patients who attended the clinic between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022, and included demographic and diagnostic information, reason for admission and date of death. Statistical analysis of differences using the chi squared test was conducted for age (< 70 years vs. ≥ 70 years), gender and mortality at 30 days after discharge from the clinic. Fisher's exact test was used to assess associations between the type of admission and the likelihood of preventing an emergency department visit. Confidence interval was set at 95%.
resultsAttendance at the rapid access clinic was judged to likely result in avoidance of an emergency department visit for 11.7% of admissions. A potentially avoided emergency department visit was associated with mortality within 30 days (22.9%), X
conclusionsA newly established palliative care rapid access clinic addressed acute symptoms in a timely manner and may offer a valuable alternative to emergency department care, particularly for patients nearing the end of life. Further prospective research using control groups and validated patient outcome measures would provide more robust evidence about the clinic's effectiveness in optimising end-of-life care and reducing the burden on our emergency departments.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.