Defining "early palliative care" for adults diagnosed with a life-limiting illness: a scoping review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Palliative care is for people suffering from life-limiting illnesses that focuses on providing relief from symptoms and stress of illness. Previous studies have demonstrated that specialist palliative care consultation delivered earlier in the disease process can enhance patients' quality of life, reduce their symptom burden, reduce use of hospital-based acute care services and extend their survival. However, various definitions exist for the term early palliative care (EPC).

Objective

To investigate how EPC has been defined in the literature for adults with life- limiting illnesses.

Methods

This review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines an

SUBMITTER: Kircher CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11969749 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature