Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2024
Integration of primary care and palliative care services to improve equality and equity at the end-of-life: Findings from realist stakeholder workshops.
Inequalities in access to palliative and end of life care are longstanding. Integration of primary and palliative care has the potential to improve equity in the community. Evidence to inform integration is scarce as research that considers integration of primary care and palliative care services is rare. ⋯ Integration to address inequalities needs recognition of current barriers. Integration grounded in trust, faith and confidence can lead to a cycle of positive patient, carer and professional experience. Prioritising inequalities as whole system concern is required for future service delivery and research.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2024
Evaluation of the integration of palliative care in a fragile setting amongst host and refugee communities: Using consecutive rapid participatory appraisals.
Palliative care is seldom integrated in healthcare in fragile, conflict affected and vulnerable settings with significant refugee populations. ⋯ Community engagement and participation, training interventions and referral pathways enabled the integration of palliative care. Rapid Participatory Appraisal provides a useful framework to evaluate activities aimed at integration of palliative care in a community.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2024
'It was never about me': A qualitative inquiry into the experiences of psychological support and perceived support needs of family caregivers of people with high-grade glioma.
Family caregivers of people with high-grade glioma often report high rates of psychological distress, which has been attributed to the unique aspects of the disease and onerous care demands. Clinical practice guidelines advocate for caregiver support from diagnosis through to end-of-life and bereavement. Yet, research has identified that caregivers' support needs are often overlooked. ⋯ Caregivers commonly prioritise the support needs of people with high-grade gliomas; yet, have their own distinct needs that vary throughout the illness. Primary care providers have a potential role in facilitating timely access to palliative care, practical support and brain tumour-specific psychological support to meet caregivers' diverse needs across the care continuum in the context of high-grade glioma.