Current opinion in oncology
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The quality of communication with patients, family, and team members is an extremely important element in palliative cancer care. The current paper reviews the literature on these topics as published in 2004. ⋯ Themes included the education of health care providers, the need to care for carers, and interdisciplinary communication. Little attention was given to the growing population of elderly patients. Observer-based studies are unfortunately scarce, making the practice of palliative communication unseen. Finally, few studies report the cost-effectiveness of palliative care interventions though such studies may enhance palliative care and convince policy makers of the need to support such care. More empirical work is needed to improve the level of quality needed to ensure a good remaining lifetime for cancer patients whose disease cannot be cured.