India is experiencing an epidemiological transition with non-communicable and chronic diseases becoming the leading causes of death. There are at least 1.5–2 million cancer cases; two-thirds of them are in an incurable stage of disease. The adult HIV prevalence is approximately 2.5 million. The development of palliative care has been patchy. Vast majority of India does not have access to pallia...

BACKGROUND Inpatient palliative care consultations have been shown to reduce acute care utilization by reducing length of stay, but less is known about their impact on subsequent costs including hospital readmissions. OBJECTIVE The study's objective was to examine the impact of inpatient palliative care consultations on 30-day hospital readmissions to a large urban academic medical center. ...

In 2014, the World Health Organization made its first ever resolution concerning palliative care, adding to the definition of palliative care they had published previously. It resolved that all member countries should integrate palliative care in health services in all settings, especially in the community.[1] This is essential as most people prefer to spend their last months and indeed die at ...

In this special issue of Progress in Palliative Care we explore the nexus between palliative care and paramedicine by presenting important initiatives being undertaken Australia, New Zealand, th...

At the national level, hospice and palliative care activities have been developing in Europe since the late 1960s. International organisations to support palliative care have been in existence since the late 1980s. It was only in the late 1990s, however, that the first comparative studies of European palliative care development were conducted. This article reviews this history and highlights th...

OBJECTIVE To assess challenges in providing palliative care in long-term care (LTC) facilities from the perspective of medical directors. DESIGN Cross-sectional mailed survey. A questionnaire was developed, reviewed, pilot-tested, and sent to 450 medical directors representing 531 LTC facilities. Responses were rated on 2 different 5-point scales. Descriptive analyses were conducted on all re...

BACKGROUND Hospital palliative care programs provide high-quality, comprehensive care for seriously ill patients and their families. OBJECTIVE To examine geographic variation in patient and medical trainee access to hospital palliative care and to examine predictors of these programs. METHODS Primary and secondary analyses of national survey and census data. Hospital data including hospital...

CONTEXT A small proportion of patients with serious illness or multiple chronic conditions account for the majority of health care spending. Despite the high cost, evidence demonstrates that these patients receive health care of inadequate quality, characterized by fragmentation, overuse, medical errors, and poor quality of life. METHODS This article examines data demonstrating the impact of ...

BACKGROUND In common with international health policy, The End of Life Care Strategy for England has highlighted the delivery of high quality palliative care in the acute hospital setting as an area of priority. AIM The aim of this study was to explore the extent of palliative care need in the acute hospital setting, and to explore agreement between different sources in the identification of ...

BACKGROUND Early palliative care is increasingly recommended but seldom practised. We sought to examine perceptions of palliative care among patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers. METHODS After conducting a cluster randomized controlled trial of early palliative care versus standard care for patients with advanced cancer, we approached patients and their caregivers to participate...