Functional Impairment and Palliative Care Utilization Among Hospitalized Patients
In a study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, researchers examined whether hospitalized patients' baseline functional status assessed on admission predicts acute health care and palliative care utilization. They found that increasing severity of functional impairment was significantly associated with higher ICU admission rates, longer hospital stays, greater in-hospital mortality, and increased palliative care utilization. The authors conclude that routine functional status assessment on admission may offer an easy-to-measure guide for timely palliative care intervention among patients at elevated risk for in-hospital morbidity and mortality.