• Jennifer Weil, Tracey J Weiland, Heather Lane, George A Jelinek, Mark Boughey, Claudia H Marck, and Jennifer Philip.
• Centre for Palliative Care, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia jennifer.weil@svhm.org.au.
• Palliat Med. 2015 Apr 1;29(4):293-301.

BackgroundThe understanding of what palliative care is, and which patients may benefit from palliative care, has important implications for optimal patient care in all areas of health provision.AimTo explore the understanding of palliative care by healthcare professionals caring for patients with advanced cancer attending emergency departments.DesignQualitative study, with two phases: the first, a series of focus groups with healthcare professionals from various disciplines and settings caring for patients with advanced cancer presenting to emergency departments; the second, semi-structured telephone interviews with emergency healthcare professionals across Australian States and Territories, including outside metropolitan centers. The data were audio-recorded and transcribed, with analysis undertaken using a qualitative thematic analysis.Setting/ParticipantsSaturation of themes was reached after 8 focus groups (22 emergency nurses, 21 emergency physicians, 6 oncologists, 6 hospital palliative care clinicians, and 28 community palliative care clinicians) and 11 telephone interviews (8 emergency physicians and 3 emergency nurses), a total of 94 participants.ResultsThe overarching theme was that healthcare professionals held contradictory understandings of palliative care and its application in the emergency department; subthemes highlighted these inconsistencies when the term "palliative" is used, in understandings of and engagement with palliative care services and in perceptions about the practical utility of palliative care.ConclusionThere are entrenched contradictions and tensions surrounding the term "palliative care"; confronting these is likely to require more than re-branding, and will promote better care for this vulnerable patient group in the emergency department.© The Author(s) 2015.

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