BACKGROUND Pharmacists are among the most accessible health care professionals in the community, yet are often not involved in community palliative care teams. OBJECTIVE We investigated community pharmacists' attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and knowledge about palliative care as a first step towards determining how best to facilitate the inclusion of community pharmacists on the palliative care...

BACKGROUND Little is known about how GPs determine whether and when patients need palliative care. Little research has been done regarding the assumption underpinning Lynn and Adamson's model that palliative care may start early in the course of the disease. This study was conducted to explore how GPs identify a need for palliative care in patients. METHODS A qualitative interview study was p...

BACKGROUND Palliative care has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a critical policy element for the relief of suffering, yet palliative care policy receives minimal attention in mainstream U.S. public health journals, conferences, or textbooks. In the '90s, documentation of the lack of attention to end-of-life and palliative care in medical and nursing curricula led to co...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a growing cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, many patients with severe COPD do not receive adequate palliative care. The main goals of our study were to identify the percentage of hospital patients with palliative care needs, particularly those who suffer from COPD.Data were collected prospectively from inpatients at the Universi...

The NCCN Guidelines for Palliative Care provide interdisciplinary recommendations on palliative care for patients with cancer. The NCCN Guidelines are intended to provide guidance to the primary oncology team on the integration of palliative care into oncology. The NCCN Palliative Care Panel's recommendations seek to ensure that each patient experiences the best quality of life possible through...

INTRODUCTION Place of death is considered a quality indicator of end-of-life care and enabling people to die where they choose is an important aspiration of palliative care. This study aims to examine the association between involvement of palliative care services and place of death. METHODS Data about patient characteristics, use of general health care, and involvement of palliative care ser...

Over the last two decades the need for palliative care services has risen in the Middle East and surrounding countries, such as Turkey, driven largely by a dramatic increase in patients’ needs for late phase cancer care outside the walls of acute care centers. Nurses in Turkey are central to ensuring that the majority of these patients and families receive the highest quality palliative care po...

Palliative care services provide secondary and tertiary levels of palliative care, the interdisciplinary care of patients in which the goal is comfort and quality of life. Primary palliative care refers to the basic skills and competencies required of all physicians and other health care professionals. Secondary palliative care refers to the specialist clinicians and organizations that provide ...

127 Background: The CDC comprehensive cancer initiatives value comprehensive quality care within its mission and program development. Currently, over 75% of hospitals in the United States have palliative care services for cancer patients (CAPC 2011). In order to promote access to quality palliative care in the community outside the hospital, an evaluation is essential. The CDC model of comprehe...