Satisfaction with hospital care at the end of life.

Objectives: To determine the satisfaction of relatives of deceased patients with the care received in a palliative care unit (PCU) and compare it with cases in which a team with specific psychological care were not involved.

Material And Methods: An anonymous survey (n=202) was administered to the relatives (response rate, 42.1%), which evaluated 9 issues related to the process of dying and the overall assessment of the care.

Results: The overall satisfaction was high (mean score of 9.22); the score for the full team was 9.40, while that of the team without the psychologist was 8.40 (P=.005). The items that scored highest were "team availability", "information received" and "assistance for facing the disease", followed by "pain control", "peaceful death", "assistance for patient-family communication", "grief support" and "quality of life".

Conclusions: Based on the relatives' assessment, the hospital PCU teams help increase the quality of care at the end of life.