Background: Interventions of mobile palliative care teams in nursing homes have been the subject special consideration, however very little data are available on this subject.
Objectives: To determine the proportion of patients followed and consultations conducted in nursing homes for the dependent elderly by a mobile palliative care team, to describe the patients followed and to analyze the various aspects of this intervention.
Method: Retrospective study on the interventions carried out by a mobile palliative care team in nursing homes between January 1st and December 31st, 2012.
Results: The interventions in nursing homes targeted, 7.2% of the followed patients and represented 8.7% of the total activity of the mobile team. Intervention requests were made primarily by the family physician. The followed patients were mostly women (63%), with a mean age of 84 years, presenting non-cancerous diseases (78.2%), and had an average of 4.4 consultations. Half of the patients died during follow-up. Three quarters of the patients presented pain, neuro-psychological symptoms and verbal communication disorders. Four out of ten patients met with the occupational therapist and one of ten, the psychologist.
Discussion: The activity of mobile palliative care teams remains marginal, although steadily (on the rise. The collected data illustrate the specificity of geriatric palliative care, while certain characteristics inherent to nursing homes require establishing appropriate therapy proposals.
Conclusion: Although quantitatively limited, the activity of mobile palliative care teams in nursing homes appears important as these interventions are likely meet the needs of both patients and staff in addition to enabling patients in palliative care to remain at their current place of residence.
Keywords: geriatric medicine; mobile palliative care team; multidisciplinary; nursing homes; palliative care.