Effects of organization-related variables on evaluation of palliative care by informal caregivers

<b>Purpose: </b>The aim of this study was to clarify the factors contributing to the evaluation of perceived care in inpatient palliative care services from the aspect of informal caregiver after their loss of the patient to cancer. <b>Method: </b>A questionnaire was mailed to 9,684 bereaved subjects who had lost family members at one of 103 palliative care units in Japan to evaluate their sociodemographic characteristics and the evaluation of perceived care. An institution survey was performed to collect organization-related variables. The evaluation of perceived care was rated by the Care Evalutaion Scale (CES), the Good Death Inventory (GDI) and single item of overall satisfation. <b>Result: </b>A total of 5,810 responses were analyzed (response rate＝60％). Uni-variate and multivariate analysis was performed to clarify the determinants of each scale. Significant determinants of the score in the evaluation of care identified were: the rate of private room (100％), independent facility, palliative care physician being night-time duty, the number of nurses at night (＞0.1 per bed), sending a letter to every bereaved family, holding a memorial services for every bereaved family and having a religious background. <b>Conclusion: </b>In conclusion, the evaluation of palliative care from the aspect of informal caregiver was influenced by various organization-related variables.

Analysis of Various Factors Affecting Prolonged Respiratory Care after Closure of Ventricular Septal Defect in Patients Less than 2 Years of Age / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

During past 7 years, 43 patients less than 2 years of age underwent closure of the ventricular septal defect. Durations of postoperative use of a respirator were 3 days or less in 30 patients (short-period group) and over 3 days in remaining 13 patients (long-period group). There was no operative death. Pre-, intra- and postoperative factors affecting prolonged respiratory care were analyzed between two groups. Results were as follows: There were statistically significant differences between short- and long-period groups on age (9.7 versus 6.5 months), body weight (6.3 versus 5.2kg) at surgery, necessity of preoperative respiratory care on respirator (0/30 versus 4/13), duration of cardiopulmonary bypass (108 versus 132min.), aortic clamp time (56 versus 70min.) and respiratory index at the first postoperative day (1.1 versus 1.7). These results revealed the necessity of far earlier surgical intervention in symptomatic patients before respiratory distress develops. Furthermore, shorter cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic clamp times should always be in mind for attaining smooth postoperative course.