[The time of dying and the time of hospital: end of life patients in emergency departments]

Abstract

A significant number of seriously ill patients die in French emergency departments. A qualitative study of the care of end of life patients in two emergency departments in teaching hospitals was conducted to analyze the work of practitioners. Organizational and funding constraints exert a significant influence on the quality of care, which in some cases may become inconsistent and cause tensions among staff. These issues are largely the result of contradictions between the temporal characteristics of some deaths and work organization. This paper offers a number of suggestions for improving the care of end of life patients in emergency departments.