Synopses of a selection of recently published research articles of relevance to palliative care

摘要

Is palliative care support associated with better quality end-of-life care indicators for patients with advanced cancer? A retrospective cohort study Patients living with cancer who are receiving routine treatment are often referred for palliative care much later in their illness trajectory. Their illness trajectory can and often does involve admission to hospital through the emergency department and eventual death in hospital. There is limited research on the association between early intervention, increased proportions of home deaths and emergency department admissions. This research is one of the few studies in the UK to focus attention on the association between duration of palliative care and quality end-of-life (EoL) care in a large population of cancer decedents. The aim of this UK study was to establish the association between the timing and provision of palliative care and quality of EoL care indicators in a population of patients dying of cancer. Retrospective data on 2479 adult cancer decedents who died between January 2010 and February 2012 was obtained from three sources: the National Cancer Registry, SystmOne (the electronic medical record system used in primary care), and the electronic medical record system used within a specialist regional cancer centre. All patients were certified as dying from cancer.