Korean J Fam Pract 2019; 9(1): 118-121  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2019.9.1.118
The Timing and Route of Transfer for End-of-Life Care in Cancer Patients
Jiyoung Rhee*, Jung-Mi Kwon, Sang-Hoon Han
Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Jeju National University Hospital, Jeju, Korea
Jiyoung Rhee, Tel: +82-64-717-1590, Fax: +82-64-717-1402, E-mail: splendor97@gmail.com, ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7787-4852
Received: August 24, 2017; Revised: October 13, 2017; Accepted: October 17, 2017; Published online: February 20, 2019.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: We evaluated the timing and route of arrival of patients with cancer referred to a hospital near their residence for end-of-life care.
Methods: The medical records of patients with cancer receiving palliative systemic treatment at other hospitals who were transferred to our hospital for terminal care were reviewed retrospectively.
Results: Records of 60 patients (mean age, 57.4 years) were reviewed. The median survival after transfer was 40 days; 56.3% and 43.3% of the patients were referred to the outpatient and emergency departments of our hospital, respectively. Only 45% of the patients were enrolled in the hospice palliative care system. The most common reason for not enrolling was rejection of the patients or their families for hospice palliative care.
Conclusion: For end-of-life care, the time from the referral to death was short, and many patients were transferred to the emergency department of our hospital.
Keywords: Cancer; End-of-Life Care; Referral; Hospice
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