Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2007
Review Multicenter Study Comparative StudyFacts and indicators on palliative care development in 52 countries of the WHO European region: results of an EAPC Task Force.
The European Association for Palliative Care Task (EAPC) Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe was created in 2003 and the results of its work are now being reported in full, both here and in several other publications. The objective of the Task Force is to assess the degree of palliative care development in the European Region as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Task Force is a collaboration between EAPC, the International Observatory on End of Life Care, Help the Hospices and the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care. ⋯ Estimates on the number of physicians working full time in palliative care are shown. The countries with the highest development of palliative care in their respective subregions as measured in terms of ratio of services per one million inhabitants are: Western Europe - UK (15); Central and Eastern Europe - Poland (9); Commonwealth of Independent States - Armenia (8). This paper also presents indicators on the development of palliative care based on the bibliometric analysis of scientific journals and on the vitality of the palliative care movement in each country.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2007
Multicenter StudyWhat determines referral of UK patients with haematological malignancies to palliative care services? An exploratory study using hospital records.
We investigated the frequency and characteristics of patients with haematological malignancies (HMs) who were, or were not, referred for specialist palliative care (SPC). Data were abstracted from hospital records of 108 patients who died - 27 with leukaemia, 11 with myelodysplastic syndromes, 48 with lymphoma and 22 with myeloma. Ninety-three patients (86.1%) were >60 years of age at diagnosis, with 33 (30.6%) being >or=80 years and 31 (28.7%) having existing comorbidities. ⋯ In 14 patients, HM diagnosis was confirmed after death. Identification of these 14 patients is likely to be a unique feature of our study, as patients were selected from a regional, population-based register with centralized diagnostic services, enabling the identification of all patients with HM. The interface between curative and palliative treatment in HM is more complex than the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommendations suggest.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2007
Multicenter StudyPalliative care provision for people with intellectual disabilities: interviews with specialist palliative care professionals in London.
Growing numbers of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are in need of palliative care, but there is inequity of access to palliative care services for this group. This study investigates the issues and difficulties arising for palliative care staff in providing care for people with ID. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 palliative care professionals in London. ⋯ Despite the challenges, many palliative care staff managed the care of people with ID well. The importance of collaboration with carers and ID services is highlighted. Further studies are needed to investigate how widespread the problems are.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2007
Multicenter StudyThe impact of palliative care on cancer deaths in Hong Kong: a retrospective study of 494 cancer deaths.
To study the utilization of public health care by advanced cancer patients in their last 6 months of life and their end-of-life process within the last 2 weeks of life. ⋯ Our results suggest that palliative care service has played a role in improving end-of-life cancer care in Hong Kong.
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Palliative medicine · Jun 2007
Multicenter StudyDoes the agreement of patient and physician assessments of health related quality of life in palliative care depend on patient characteristics?
Using physician assessments of patients' health related quality of life may improve the feasibility of studies in palliative care. However, poor agreement between patients and physicians has been found. We investigated whether subgroups of patients with good agreement existed. ⋯ Based on our findings physician assessments cannot be recommended as a substitute for patient self-assessment for any subgroups of palliative care patients.