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There is a gap in knowledge about the kind and quality of care experienced by hospital patients at the end of their lives.

To document and compare the patterns in end‐of‐life care for patients dying across a range of different medical units in an acute care hospital.

A retrospective observational study of consecutive adult inpatient deaths between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2014 in four different medical units of an Australian tertiary referral hospital was performed. Units were selected on the basis of highest inpatient death rates and included medical oncology, respiratory medicine, cardiology and gastroenterology/hepatology.

Overall, 41% of patients died with active medical treatment plans, but significantly more respiratory and cardiology patients died with ongoing treatment (46 and 75% respectively) than medical oncology and gastroenterology patients (each 27%, P < 0.05 …