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Updated: Jan 4, 2026

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Satisfaction with hospital care at the end of life
M J Zamora Muñoz1, M Priego Valladares1, C J van-der Hofstadt Román2
1Unidad de Medicina Paliativa, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, España; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL), Alicante, España.
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.
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