Association Between Palliative Care and Patient and Caregiver Outcomes

Abstract

IMPORTANCEThe use of palliative care programs and the number of trials assessing their effectiveness have increased.OBJECTIVE To determine the association of palliative care with quality of life (QOL), symptom burden, survival, and other outcomes for people with life-limiting illness and for their caregivers.

Accountability for the Quality of Care Provided to People with Serious Illness

“…16 In a systematic review of randomized trials of early outpatient and home-based palliative care by Davis et al, 17 study findings were inconsistent. Some showed improved quality of life and reduced cost of care; others showed no improvement in quality of life and no difference in cost of care compared with usual care.…”

Avaliação do Conhecimento em Cuidados Paliativos em Estudantes durante o Curso de Medicina

“…Portanto, tais cenários são os mais apropriados para os estudantes do internato do curso médico realizarem seu processo de ensino-aprendizagem em CP, e tais estudantes poderão ver os bons resultados da abordagem/tratamento em CP na qualidade de vida dos pacientes e de seus familiares 13 . Uma recente revisão sistemática com meta-análise novamente mostrou que CP estão associados com melhora na qualidade de vida dos pacientes, menor utilização de cuidados/serviços de saúde e maior satisfação dos cuidadores dos pacientes 14 .…”

When it comes to death, there is no place like home… Or is there?

“…5,6 However, even though studies have documented the benefits of early palliative care, this care model has yet to be widely adopted. 7 Reyniers et al's findings also raise a number of important questions. First, we do not know whether family physicians were aware of patients' wishes about where they wished to die and whether they considered the patients' wishes when making a judgement about the appropriateness decision.…”

“…7 In Reyniers et al's study, potentially inappropriate hospital admissions were initiated 45.7% of the time by patients' partner and non-partner family members. Similarly, they initiated 48.6% of potentially avoidable admissions, and these results highlight the influential role that families play in decisions to seek care in hospitals.…”