Abstract

End-stage cancer: to die at home or in a hospital?. MEDISAN [online]. 2010, vol.14, n.7, pp.910-916. ISSN 1029-3019.

A descriptive, cross-sectional and retrospective study was carried out to determine the causes of death and the reasons why patients with end-stage cancer die in hospitals, in order to reduce the mortality rate in these institutions, which specifically in the "Dr. Joaquín Castillo Duany" Provincial Hospital of Santiago de Cuba was found to be 66,3% in 2008, to improve quality of health care, to compare the hospital mortality with that of the health area, and to specify the reasons that forced these patients to attend the care unit at the terminal stage of their illness, when they should stay in their homes, served by the health team in the community. Among the leading causes of death were bronchopneumonia and multiple organ failure

Keywords : quality of health care; end-stage cancer; causes of death; primary health care; secondary health care.

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