[Survey of Relatives' Perspective on Dying In The Hospital: A Comparison Between Departments of Internal Medicine and Palliative Care In Styria (Austria)].

Background: Currently, 49% of deaths in Austria occur in a hospital which makes in-patient quality of care as well as quality of death and dying a highly relevant topic. In this article, we compare the quality of care and death and dying in departments of internal medicine and palliative care in hospitals from the perspective of relatives.

Methods: In a pilot study, 210 relatives of patients who died on 4 departments of internal medicine and 2 departments of palliative care in the state of Styria (Austria) were interviewed in 2015-2017 by means of a postal survey with regard to communication by hospital personnel, quality of care, and time of dying.

Results: Compared to the departments of internal medicine, the 2 departments of palliative care were perceived to provide better quality of care and better service with regard to the time of death and dying, that is, timely communication of critical health deterioration of the patient, enabling relatives' attendance at the time of death, preparing relatives, and the quality of death of the patient.

Conclusion: Against the background of the large proportion of individuals who die in hospitals in Austria, this exploratory study showed that relatives perceived both better quality of care and better quality of death and dying in the assessed departments of palliative care compared to the departments of internal medicine. Thus, a more comprehensive and systematic evaluation of the potential added value of palliative care teams in Austrian hospitals is recommended.