• Daniel Vincent, Cayden Peixoto, Kieran L Quinn, Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, Genevieve Lalumiere, Allison M Kurahashi, Nathalie Gilbert, and Sarina R Isenberg.
• Division of Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
• Palliat Med. 2022 Oct 1; 36 (9): 1374-1388.

BackgroundDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, many community palliative healthcare providers shifted from providing care in a patient's home to providing almost exclusively virtual palliative care, or a combination of in-person and virtual care. Research on virtual palliative care is thus needed to provide evidence-based recommendations aiming to enhance the delivery of palliative care during and beyond the pandemic.AimTo explore the experiences and perceptions of community palliative care providers, patients and caregivers who delivered or received virtual palliative care as a component of home-based palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic.DesignQualitative study using phone and video-based semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.Setting/ParticipantsA total of 37 participants, including community palliative care patients/caregivers (n = 19) and healthcare providers (n = 18) recruited from sites in Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ResultsOverall, participants preferred in-person palliative care compared to virtual care, but suggested virtual care could be a useful supplement to in-person care. The findings are presented in three main themes: (1) Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on community palliative care services; (2) Factors influencing transition from exclusively virtual model of care back to a blended model of care; and (3) Recommended uses and implementation of virtual palliative care.ConclusionsIncorporating virtual palliative care into healthcare provider practice models (blended care models) may be the ideal model of care and standard practice moving forward beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, which has important implications toward organization and delivery of community palliative care services and funding of healthcare providers.

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