Perinatal Palliative Care: Additional Costs of an Interprofessional Service and Outcome of Pregnancies in a Cohort of 115 Referrals
Title
Perinatal Palliative Care: Additional Costs of an Interprofessional Service and Outcome of Pregnancies in a Cohort of 115 Referrals
Creator
Buchholtz S; Fangmann L; Siedentopf N; Bührer C; Garten L
Identifier
Publisher
Journal of Palliative Medicine
Date
2023
Subject
Health Care Costs; Human; Palliative Care; Perinatal Care
Description
Abstract Background: An increasing number of life-limiting conditions (LLCs) is diagnosed prenatally, presenting providers with the ability to present perinatal palliative care (PnPC) services as an option. Objective: To (1) determine the profile characteristics of patients referred for prenatal palliative care counseling to Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; (2) evaluate pregnancy outcome; and (3) analyze the additional human resources per family required to provide specialized PnPC. Methods: Retrospective chart review of pregnant women and infants with potentially LLCs referred for prenatal palliative care counseling between 2016 and 2020. Results: A total of 115 women were referred for prenatal palliative care counseling. Most cases (57.6%) comprised trisomy 13 or 18 (n = 36) and complex congenital conditions (n = 32). Other life-limiting diagnoses included renal agenesis/severe dysplasia (n = 19), congenital heart diseases (n = 18), neurological anomalies (n = 8), and others (n = 5). In 72.0% of cases (n = 85) parents decided to continue pregnancy and plan for palliative birth. Fifty deliveries resulted in a liveborn infant: 33 of these died in the delivery room, 9 neonates died after admission to rooming-in on one of our neonatal wards, and 8 were discharged home or to a hospice. Total human resources (median, range) provided were 563 (0–2940) minutes for psychosocial and 300 (0–720) minutes for medical specialized PnPC per referral. Conclusions: Our data confirm previously observed characteristics of diagnoses, referrals, and outcomes. The provision of specialized and interprofessional PnPC services accounted for ∼14 hours per case of additional human resources.
Rights
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
Citation List Month
May List 2023
URL Address
Collection
Citation
Buchholtz S; Fangmann L; Siedentopf N; Bührer C; Garten L, “Perinatal Palliative Care: Additional Costs of an Interprofessional Service and Outcome of Pregnancies in a Cohort of 115 Referrals,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed April 26, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/19090.