Palliative care grows

Programs that focus on relieving chronically ill patients’ pain and discomfort, and which often include massage therapy, are growing in their implementation by U.S. hospitals.

A report published in the December 2005 issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine shows that the number of such programs, termed palliative care, which work to relieve pain and suffering and improve quality of life, increased 67 percent in U.S. hospitals between 2000 and 2003.

Data gathered by the American Hospital Association’s annual surveys show that the number of palliative-care programs in hospitals grew from 632 (15 percent of hospitals) to 1,027 (25 percent of hospitals) during the three-year period.

In their report, “The Growth of Palliative Care Programs in United States Hospitals,” the authors present data that show that the facilities most likely to institute a palliative-care program are larger hospitals, academic medical centers, nonprofit hospitals and Veterans Administration hospitals. Hospitals located in New England and the Mountain Region (Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Montana and Idaho) were significantly more likely to have a palliative-care program than hospitals in all other regions of the country.

The full report is available free online at: www.liebertpub.com/jpm.