Abstract
BACKGROUND: Palliative home-care teams often cooperate with general practitioners (GPs) and district nurses. Our aim was to evaluate a palliative home-care team from the viewpoint of GPs and district nurses. METHODS: GPs and district nurses received questionnaires at the start of home-care and one month later. Questions focussed on benefits to patients, training issues for professionals and cooperation between the home-care team and the GP/ district nurse. A combination of closed- and open-ended questions was used. RESULTS: Response rate was 84% (467/553). Benefits to patients were experienced by 91 %, mainly due to improvement in symptom management, 'security', and accessibility of specialists in palliative care. After one month, 57% of the participants reported to have learnt aspects of palliative care, primarily symptom control, and 89% of them found cooperation satisfactory. Dissatisfaction was caused mainly by lack of information from the home-care team to primary-care professionals. CONCLUSION: GPs and district nurses welcomed the palliative home-care team and most experienced benefits to patients. Strengthened communication, initiated by the home-care team would enhance cooperation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Palliative Medicine : A Multiprofessional Journal |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 241-50 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| ISSN | 0269-2163 |
| Publication status | Published - 2005 |