A Comparative Study of Terminally Ill Hospice and Hospital Patients

Abstract

This study investigated differences between twenty-eight hospice and twenty-eight hospital patients who died within a specified time period in one county of Northeastern Ohio. The comparison found that hospice patients were younger, had more people living in the home, and had a shorter disease history. Age, the number of people living in the home, and primary cancer site significantly discriminated between the hospice and hospital patients and predicted group membership with a 76.8 percent overall accuracy rate.