A review of the literature on family decision-making at end of life precipitating hospital admission

Abstract

Around 70% of people would prefer to die at home, yet around 50% die in hospital, according to Dying Matters. In collaboration with a local hospice, a literature review was undertaken to address the question: ‘what factors precipitate admission to hospital in the last few days of a person's life for those who had expressed a preference to die at home?’ Four electronic databases were searched, with a date range of 2008 to 2018. After 80 articles were screened, 13 were included in the review. The findings identified a number of barriers experienced by people with non-cancer conditions nearing the end of life and their family carers, which inhibit the transition to end-of-life care. The findings suggest that hospice support for non-cancer patients with a deteriorating health trajectory needs to precede patient and family recognition that end-of-life care is needed.