Spending one's last days and dying at home is a common wish of people with a life-limiting illness. Home-based palliative care is essentially organised at the primary level to meet the needs of ...palliative patients and their carers. The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics of home-based palliative care, focusing on those who identify palliative patients, what their needs are and how this affects their length of life and site of death.
This retrospective cohort study analysed routinely collected notes of patients enrolled in home-based palliative care between 2015 and 2021. Palliative care was provided by a primary health care team in a predominantly rural area.
This study included 107 palliative patients, aged 71±11.4 years, 94% of whom had cancer. They were enrolled in palliative care by their primary care team or by hospital staff. The enrolment by hospital staff (3%) resulted in significantly shorter survival (p=0.008). Patients lived an average of 66 days, and 65% of patients died at home. Home-based palliative care was found to respond to both basic and complex palliative medical needs, but was weaker in addressing socio-economic, psychological or spiritual issues.
This exemplary primary-level palliative team provided home-based palliative care that has improved over the years in terms of all the observed quality indicators: early enrolment, the proportion of patients dying at home and the ability to address needs. Specialised mobile palliative teams, hospitals and other palliative care settings complement home-based palliative care.
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death overall, with 1.5 years life expectancy and minimal therapeutic progress in the last decades. Despite the burden it causes, there is ...little research on the needs of this specific population. This study aimed to explore healthcare professionals' views on providing care and patients' unsatisfied needs.
This qualitative descriptive study was carried out at a cancer hospital in Northern Greece. A total of 12 participants (6 physicians and 6 nurses), treating patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing chemotherapy, were recruited through purposive sampling and underwent face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed through the thematic analysis method in NVivo12 software.
The analysis highlighted two themes: "needs of patients with pancreatic cancer" consisted of 6 subthemes ("daily activities", "symptoms management", "psychological support", "information needs", "multidisciplinary care" and "end-of-life care") and "needs of healthcare professionals" had 3 subthemes ("psychological support", "education" and "organizational support"). Several symptoms are identified and affect the daily activities of these patients, and psychological support is important for the majority of them, even at the time of diagnosis. The participants express dissatisfaction with the absence of palliative care structures and services and stated that an interdisciplinary approach would improve the quality of care.
Healthcare professionals report a wide range of unsatisfied needs of patients with pancreatic cancer, with the majority expressing their concerns about the complete lack of patient support in the last stages of their lives.
Ozaveščanje javnosti o paliativni oskrbi Erika Zelko; Edvard Jakšič; Nevenka Krčevski Škvarč
AS. Andragoška spoznanja,
10/2021, Volume:
27, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Ozaveščanje in izobraževanje splošne javnosti o paliativni oskrbi lahko izboljša tako paliativno oskrbo kot zadnje dneve življenja bolnikov z neozdravljivo boleznijo. To je tudi namen mednarodnega ...programa Zadnja pomoč (Last Aid), v okviru katerega poteka skupnostno izobraževanje o paliativni oskrbi, ki ga izvajajo v 18 državah. V Sloveniji smo ga začeli izvajati v drugi polovici 2019 in doslej izvedli 25 tečajev. Do zdaj se je tečaja udeležilo 350 ljudi, 255 jih je izpolnilo in vrnilo ocenjevalne vprašalnike. Namen prispevka je predstaviti analizo evalvacije tečaja Zadnja pomoč v Sloveniji. Na podlagi analize podatkov, pridobljenih s kvalitativno in kvantitativno metodo, lahko ugotovimo, da je bil izobraževalni program dobro sprejet tudi v slovenskem okolju, saj so bili udeleženci zelo zadovoljni tako z vsebino kot z izvedbo tečaja. Z najvišjo oceno (5) je tečaj v celoti ocenilo 87,7 % udeležencev, posamezne module pa je z najvišjo oceno ocenilo več kot 75 % udeležencev. Medtem ko so udeleženci večinoma pozitivno ovrednotili interaktivnost tečaja in priložnost izmenjave izkušenj na njem, pa analiza evalvacije kaže tudi, da je treba program nadgraditi z dodatnimi temami.
Although the concept of integrated care for non-communicable diseases was introduced at the primary level to move from disease-centered to patient-centered care, it has only been partially ...implemented in European countries. The aim of this study was to identify and compare identified facilitators and barriers to scale-up this concept between Slovenia and Belgium.
This was a qualitative study. Fifteen focus groups and fifty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders at the micro, meso and macro levels. In addition, data from two previously published studies were used for the analysis. Data collection and analysis was initially conducted at country level. Finally, the data was evaluated by a cross-country team to assess similarities and differences between countries.
Four topics were identified in the study: patient-centered care, teamwork, coordination of care and task delegation. Despite the different contexts, true teamwork and patient-centered care are limited in both countries by hierarchies and a very heavily skewed medical approach. The organization of primary healthcare in Slovenia probably facilitates the coordination of care, which is not the case in Belgium. The financing and organization of primary practices in Belgium was identified as a barrier to the implementation of task delegation between health professionals.
This study allowed formulating some important concepts for future healthcare for non-communicable diseases at the level of primary healthcare. The results could provide useful insights for other countries with similar health systems.
Slovenia is an aging society. Social security expenditures for the elderly are rising steadily, and the majority of Slovenians are firmly convinced that the state must provide elder care. This ...situation means that informal caregivers face many challenges and problems in their altruistic mission.
To explore the experiences and feelings of informal caregivers and to provide an understanding of how informal caregivers support the elderly and what challenges and difficulties they face in Slovenian society.
The study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 10 caregivers. In addition to descriptive statistics, we conducted a qualitative study using the qualitative content analysis method.
We identified four themes among health caregivers' experiences with challenges and problems in providing long-term health care for the elderly. Caregivers pointed out that they are mostly left to themselves and their altruistic mission of giving informal long-term care to their elderly relatives and friends. Systemic regulation of the national public health care system is the source of many problems.
Other social systems determine and limit the position of informal caregivers in Slovenia. This qualitative study should be understood as useful stepping-stone to future research and real improvement in this area.
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