J Palliat Care
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Multicenter Study
Factors associated with fulfilling the preference for dying at home among cancer patients: the role of general practitioners.
This study aimed to explore clinical and care-related factors associated with fulfilling cancer patients' preference for home death across four countries: Belgium (BE), The Netherlands (NL), Italy (IT), and Spain (ES). ⋯ Those who develop policy to facilitate home death need to examine available resources for primary end-of-life care.
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Few data are available on the costs occurring during the palliative phase of care and on the sharing of these costs in rural areas. This study aimed to evaluate the costs related to all resources used by rural palliative care patients and to examine how these costs were shared between the public healthcare system (PHCS), patients' families, and not-for-profit organizations (NFPOs). A prospective longitudinal study was undertaken of 82 palliative care patients and their main informal caregivers in rural areas of four Canadian provinces. ⋯ The mean total cost per patient for a six-month participation in a palliative care program was CA$31,678 +/- 1,160. A large part of this cost was attributable to inpatient hospital stays and was assumed by the PHCS. The patient's family contributed less than a quarter of the mean total cost per patient, and this was mainly attributable to caregiving time.