Recommendations for Palliative and Hospice Care in NCCN Guidelines for Treatment of Cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Integration of specialist palliative care into routine oncologic care improves patients' quality of life and survival. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) cancer treatment guidelines are instrumental in standardizing cancer care, yet it is unclear how palliative and hospice care are integrated in these guidelines. In this study, we examined the frequency of occurrence of "palliative care" and "hospice care" in NCCN guidelines and compared between solid tumor and hematologic malignancy guidelines.

Materials and methods

We reviewed all 53 updated NCCN Guidelines for Treatment of Cancer. We documented the frequency of occurrence of "palliative care" and "hospice care," the definitions for these terms if available, and the recommended timing for these service

SUBMITTER: Mo L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7794182 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature