• S C C M Teunissen, E H Verhagen, M Brink, B A van der Linden, E E Voest, and A de Graeff.
• Department of Medical Oncology, F02.126, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
• Support Care Cancer. 2007 Jun 1;15(6):577-82.

Goals Of WorkTo analyze cancer patient-related consultations of a telephone helpdesk (TH) for palliative care over a period of 5 years in the region of Utrecht, The Netherlands.Materials And MethodsA descriptive analysis was performed of consultations over a period of 5 years (2001-2006). The discipline and location of requesting professionals, patient characteristics, reasons for calling, symptoms, palliative care problems and needs for support were registered.Main ResultsA total of 1,794 consultations were analyzed. There was an increasing number of consultations during the study period. Of the patients, 51% were male and their median age was 65 years (range 0-104). Eighty-four percent were treated at home by their general practitioner. Two thirds of the patients had a life expectancy <4 weeks. Most questions referred to pain (49%), delirium (20%), nausea and vomiting (16%) and dyspnea (12%). The median number of symptoms was 1 (0-6). Of the questions, 54% were related to pharmacological problems, 19% to psychological problems and 21% to the organization of care. Of the requesting professionals, 17% asked for support for themselves. Of the consultations, 14% were related to end-of-life issues: palliative sedation (11%) and euthanasia (3%).ConclusionAfter more than 5 years, the 24-h telephone consultation service fulfills a need for general practitioners dealing with daily dilemmas in palliative care treatment for cancer patients at home during the last period of their life.

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