BMJ : British medical journal
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Does hospital at home for palliative care facilitate death at home? Randomised controlled trial.
To evaluate the impact on place of death of a hospital at home service for palliative care. ⋯ In a locality with good provision of standard community care we could not show that hospital at home allowed more patients to die at home, although neither does the study refute this. Problems relating to recruitment, attrition, and the vulnerability of the patient group make randomised controlled trials in palliative care difficult. While these difficulties have to be recognised they are not insurmountable with the appropriate resourcing and setting.