{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T05:48:38Z","timestamp":1782366518604,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":9,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782345600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Health Serv."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In Japanese hospitals, the processes following recognition of absence of vital signs, including the pronouncement of death, postmortem care, handing over the body to the family or funeral service, and the final postmortem process, often require considerable time. With increasing attention being paid to physician work-hour management and workflow optimization in Japan, these tasks may represent a considerable burden. However, little is known about the actual time course from recognition of absence of vital signs to hospital discharge of the deceased.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of the patients who died in our palliative care unit between September 2024 and March 2025. The primary objective was to evaluate the time intervals from pronouncement of death to the initiation of postmortem care, duration of postmortem care, and completion of the postmortem process.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Among the 85 patients discharged after death, time data were available for 81. Pronouncement of death was performed during regular working hours in 17 cases and outside working hours in 64 cases. The median interval from pronouncement of death by the physician to the initiation of postmortem care was 20\u2005min, and the median duration of postmortem care was 40\u2005min. The median time from pronouncement of death by the physician to the postmortem process was 129\u2005min.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings provide baseline quantitative data on the workflow burden associated with postmortem procedures in palliative care settings. Future studies should evaluate the operational burden and family-centered outcomes associated with postmortem procedures.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/frhs.2026.1847813","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T05:29:29Z","timestamp":1782365369000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Time course of postmortem procedures in a palliative care unit"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Tamio","family":"Okimoto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shintaro","family":"Shimizu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ken","family":"Yoshihara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mika","family":"Horie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mika","family":"Nakao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yoshihiro","family":"Amano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Takamasa","family":"Hotta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Megumi","family":"Hamaguchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chie","family":"Seno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Palliative Care Ward, Shimane University Hospital","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Takeshi","family":"Isobe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Izumo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.2512\/jspm.19.47","article-title":"Multi-center preliminary survey as post-mortem care","volume":"19","author":"Kobayashi","year":"2024","journal-title":"Palliat Care Res"},{"key":"B2","volume-title":"Report of the Study Group on Work Style Reform for Physicians","year":"2019"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2020-0008-OP","DOI":"10.1539\/eohp.2020-0008-OP","article-title":"Workstyle reform for Japanese doctors","volume":"2","author":"Tsutsumi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ Occupat Health Pract"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"452","DOI":"10.1038\/bmt.2012.244","article-title":"Investigation of the freely available easy-to-use software \u2018EZR\u2019 For medical statistics","volume":"48","author":"Kanda","year":"2013","journal-title":"Bone Marrow Transplant"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"162","DOI":"10.2512\/jspm.5.162","article-title":"Who pronounced the patient's death? 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