Nivel: Essential elements of high-quality palliative care at home
News
12-11-2019

Essential elements of high-quality palliative care at home

Medical proficiency, availability, a focus on the person, proper information transfer between professionals, clear procedures and proactivity on the part of GPs and community nursing staff are considered essential for good palliative care at home. This is one of the results of a Nivel interview study among patients.

General practitioners (GPs) and community nurses often play a central role in the palliative care for home-dwelling patients with advanced cancer and their relatives. In a new article Nivel-researchers describe what patients and family consider essential for palliative cancer care at home.

Better information transfer between professionals
Improvements are particularly warranted with regard to collaboration and information transfer between professionals, and current bureaucratic procedures. It is important for care professionals to ensure that the identified essential elements for high-quality palliative care at home are met, particularly for patients and relatives who are not so alert and assertive.

Methods
Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 patients with advanced cancer and 14 relatives. The participants discussed their experiences with the care and support they received from the GP and community nurses, and their views on met and unmet needs. Interview data were analysed according to the principles of thematic analysis.

This research project relates to Nivel's research program Nursing Care and Elderly Care (lead by prof. Anneke Francke, PhD).