Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, location VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Expertise Center for Palliative Care Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
BMC Prim Care. 2024 Oct 23;25(1):378. doi: 10.1186/s12875-024-02625-9.
Limited information exists regarding the prevalence of bereavement care provision by general practitioners (GPs) and in what cases they provide this. Insights into the current practice of bereavement care provision by GPs can highlight areas for improvement of the bereavement care practice. Therefore, we examined in how many cases GPs contacted relatives regarding bereavement care, and which case-specific characteristics are associated.
This study had a retrospective cross-sectional design and used data from a clustered sample of 52 GP-practices in the Netherlands. Patient cases were included if they were one year or older and died between January 1st, 2018 and December 31st, 2022. The main outcome was whether the GP had had contact with relatives regarding bereavement care or planned to do so. Descriptive statistics were used, as well as logistic regression analyses with generalized estimating equations.
Following 86.4% of deaths, GPs either had contact with or planned to have contact with relatives of their deceased patients regarding bereavement care. This likelihood was higher in non-sudden deaths compared to sudden deaths (odds ratio [OR] 1.60). In cases of non-sudden death, GPs were more likely to provide bereavement care if an informal caregiver was involved (OR 3.81), or if the GP was part of a palliative care at home group (PaTz) (OR 2.78).
In the majority of cases GPs reach out to the relatives of their deceased patients to offer bereavement care. Given their familiarity with the deceased person, particularly instances of non-sudden death, the GP seems to be well-positioned to provide bereavement care, especially support that focuses on reviewing the period leading up to the death.
关于全科医生（GP）提供丧亲关怀的频率以及在哪些情况下提供这种关怀，相关信息有限。了解 GP 目前提供丧亲关怀的实践情况，可以突出需要改进丧亲关怀实践的领域。因此，我们研究了 GP 有多少情况下会与亲属联系丧亲关怀事宜，以及哪些特定病例特征与之相关。
本研究采用回顾性的横断面设计，使用来自荷兰 52 个 GP 实践的聚类样本数据。患者病例被纳入研究标准为：年龄在 1 岁或以上，且在 2018 年 1 月 1 日至 2022 年 12 月 31 日期间死亡。主要结局是 GP 是否已经或计划与亲属联系丧亲关怀事宜。采用描述性统计和广义估计方程的逻辑回归分析。
在 86.4%的死亡病例中，GP 要么已经与患者亲属联系过丧亲关怀事宜，要么计划这样做。与突然死亡相比，非突然死亡的情况下（比值比 [OR] 1.60），GP 更有可能这样做。在非突然死亡的情况下，如果有非正式照顾者参与（OR 3.81），或者 GP 是家庭姑息治疗小组（PaTz）的一员（OR 2.78），GP 更有可能提供丧亲关怀。
在大多数情况下，GP 会与去世患者的亲属联系，提供丧亲关怀。鉴于他们对逝者的熟悉程度，尤其是在非突然死亡的情况下，GP 似乎是提供丧亲关怀的合适人选，尤其是提供专注于回顾死亡前阶段的支持。
