Research addressing the nature of hospice referrals focuses primarily on the effect of late referral and the majority of studies are based in North America. Using health care professionals as key informants, the goal was to describe the hospice referral system used in the Western Cape Province of South Africa from the perspective of nursing sisters, medical doctors, and social workers. Semi-structured interviews with 29 such individuals were conducted at 15 rural, urban and peri-urban sites, exploring their perceptions towards, and experiences with, patient referral to hospice programmes. Interpretative descriptive design allowed for a comprehensive description of the referral process as well as an extension of the data based on the perspectives of the three stakeholder groups. The majority of hospice referrals originated from either community-based clinics or state hospitals. Three main themes, centring around the process of referring, (lack of) standardization, and (lack of) knowledge, arose from the analysis of the transcripts. An interpretation of the themes led to the development of a model describing the ideal hospice referral system for South Africa.
Figure 3 Balancing measure: parental comprehension of diagnosis, plan, and discharge criteria Abstract 4 Figure 4 Balancing measure: parental satisfication with FCR elements: number of people in the patient's room (during the COVID-19 pandemic) and the amount of information shared during FCR Abstract 4 Figure 5 Balancing measure: percentage of hospitalist rounds exceeding allotted time
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.