BMC palliative care
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BMC palliative care · Apr 2017
Palliative care for people with dementia in the terminal phase: a mixed-methods qualitative study to inform service development.
When entering the dying phase, the nature of physical, psychosocial and spiritual care needs of people with dementia and their families may change. Our objective was to understand what needs to be in place to develop optimal palliative care services for the terminal phase in the face of a small evidence base. ⋯ A mobile team that specializes in palliative care in dementia and supports professional and family caregivers is a promising model. Compared to transfer to a hospice in the last weeks or days, it has the potential to address the priorities of families and patients for continuity of care, relationships and specialist expertise.
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BMC palliative care · Apr 2017
A process evaluation of systematic risk and needs assessment for caregivers in specialised palliative care.
Caregiving is strenuous and it may be associated with adverse psychological outcomes. During the palliative care trajectory, there are unique opportunities for providing support and preventing poor bereavement outcome. However, the tasks of palliative care staff in relation to caregivers are often unclear in the daily practice. Assessment is recommended to establish risk and needs and standards for caregiver support are available. Still, the feasibility of applying these standards among caregivers in everyday clinical practice has not been tested so far. ⋯ The intervention proved feasible and useful. Still, we identified barriers to the implementation which should be taken into consideration when planning implementation of a systematic risk and needs assessment and in the establishment of medical records for caregivers.