Emergency Department-Initiated Palliative Care Consultations for Patients with Cancer
A study published in The Journal of Emergency Medicine sought to evaluate trends in emergency department-initiated palliative care consultations for people with cancer in a large U.S. health system. Researchers found that consultations increased by 388% between 2016 and 2023, with the proportion of cancer-related consultations originating in the ED nearly doubling from 6.7% to 12.9%, suggesting growing integration of specialty palliative care services within emergency care for oncology patients.