Center to Advance Palliative Care

We also have a consultation service throughout the hospital. We send surveys to those families who are on the bereavement list (loved one was likely to die within 3 months of d/c). After the death, which is generally tracked through obituaries unless they died in the hospital, we send a bereavement card and then a survey about 1 week later. We do have a data base with contact info and I try to track down a contact address through the internet directory if we don't have an address on our data base. We get a low return on surveys too. It looks like having a pc unit does make a big difference. I think calling the contact after the death to check in with how they are doing would problably increase our returns. Bev Thorpe, LCSW Pain and Palliative Care Maine Medical Center Portland Maine