Specialist palliative care teams and characteristics related to referral rate: a national cross-sectional survey among hospitals in the Netherlands.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Specialist palliative care teams (SPCTs) in hospitals improve quality of life and satisfaction with care for patients with advanced disease. However, referrals to SPCTs are often limited. To identify areas for improvement of SPCTs' service penetration, we explored the characteristics and level of integration of palliative care programmes and SPCTs in Dutch hospitals and we assessed the relation between these characteristics and specialist palliative care referral rates.

Methods

We performed a secondary analysis of a national cross-sectional survey conducted among hospitals in the Netherlands from March through May 2018. For this survey, a previously developed online questionnaire, containing 6 consensus-based integration indicators, was sent to palliative care pro

SUBMITTER: Boddaert MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8582112 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature