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Background: Danish Palliative Care Database comprises five quality indicators: (1) Contact with specialised palliative care (SPC) among referred patients, (2) Waiting time of less than 10 days, (3) Proportion of patients who died from (A) cancer or (B) non-cancer diseases, and had contact with SPC, (4) Proportion of patients completing the patient-reported outcome measure at baseline (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL), and (5) Proportion of patients discussed at a multidisciplinary conference.
Purpose: To investigate changes in the quality indicators from 2010 until 2020 in cancer and non-cancer patients. Patients/material: Patients aged 18+ years who died from 2010 until 2020.
Method: Register-based study with the Danish Palliative Care Database as the main data source. Indicator changes were reported as percentage fulfilment.
Results: From 2010 until 2020, the proportion of patients with non-cancer diseases in SPC increased slightly (2.5-7.2%). In 2019, fulfilment of the five indicators for cancer and non-cancer were: (1) 81% vs. 73%; (2) 73% vs. 68%; (3A) 50%; (3B) 2%; (4) 73% vs. 66%; (5) 73% vs. 65%. Whereas all other indicators improved, the proportion of patients waiting less than 10 days from referral to contact decreased. Differences between type of unit were found, mainly lower for hospice.
Interpretation: Most patients in SPC had cancer. All indicators except waiting time improved during the 10-year period. The establishment of the Danish Palliative Care Database may have contributed to the positive development; however, SPC in Denmark needs to be improved, especially regarding a reduction in waiting time and enhanced contact for non-cancer patients.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.2340/1651-226X.2024.28515 | DOI Listing |
Omega (Westport)
September 2025
Departamento de Bienestar y Salud, Universidad Católica del Uruguay, Uruguay.
A qualitative study using in-depth interviews was conducted to identify the level of knowledge, beliefs, and perceptions of family members and healthcare workers regarding the use of morphine as a pain treatment for individuals at the end of life. The study included healthcare professionals and caregivers of individuals who had died from serious illnesses affiliated with a rural health center in an inland city in the western region of Uruguay between August 2021 and June 2022. The findings may contribute to understanding the determinants that influence opioid use in healthcare centers lacking access to specialized palliative care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDementia (London)
September 2025
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
As a life-limiting illness, dementia requires a holistic approach to care, where spiritual support plays a crucial role in helping individuals and their caregivers find meaning and solace. Our aim was to systematically map the research conducted on psychosocial interventions developed to provide spiritual support for people living with dementia and their caregivers from diagnosis and across the disease trajectory. A scoping review was conducted to explore the breadth of research on 'spiritual support' in dementia care, encompassing interventions, service delivery models, programs, toolkits, approaches, and activities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Hosp Palliat Care
September 2025
Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA.
Palliative Care (PC) is a rapidly expanding field, with a more recent shift toward outpatient services to enhance patient care. Palliative Care educators can provide fulfilling outpatient PC experiences to trainees across various disciplines, including medical students, physician fellows, nurse practitioner students, and social work interns. We present five strategies for optimizing training in the outpatient PC setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Nurs Stud
August 2025
End-of-life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Belgium; Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Belgium.
Background: Advanced cancer impacts the lives of both patients and their family caregivers. They often experience substantial declines in quality of life and physical, emotional, and spiritual distress that generate significant unmet psychosocial care needs. These effects are interrelated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Nurs Stud
August 2025
Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing Midwifery and Palliative Care, Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy and Rehabilitation, King's College London, Bessemer Road, London SE5 9PJ, UK; Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, Brighton General Hospital, Elm Grove, Brighton, East Sussex
Background: People with advanced illness at home, and their families, rely on 'out-of-hours' services provided by community, primary and specialist palliative care services. Home is commonly expressed as the preferred place to be cared for and die, and an increasing proportion of people are dying at home, but what constitutes 'good' care is poorly understood from the combined perspectives of healthcare professionals and patients and family caregivers.
Objective: To understand the convergence and divergence of the perspectives of healthcare professionals with those of patients and family caregivers, on priorities for home-based palliative care in the 'out-of-hours' period in the UK.