BACKGROUND: Continuity of end-of-life care for patients receiving palliative care is an important challenge for out-of-hours services in general practice. AIM: To investigate how frequent information is transferred on patients receiving palliative care from GPs to the out-of-hours services, to explore the perceptions of GP's on this information transfer and to study the relation between information transfer and the used GP information systems. METHODS: This is a mixed-method design study. The frequency of information transfer to the out-of-hours services was investigated by analyzing a regional out-of-hours database. Barriers and promoting factors for this transfer of information were investigated by using semi-structured interviews among a purposive sample of GPs from the same region. The relation between information transfer and the GP information system was investigated by a postal questionnaire in a national random selection of GPs. RESULTS: When a palliative patient contacted the out-of-hours service, for 20% of these patients, a transfer of information was available and only half of these transfers included an anticipating end-of-life plan. All interviewed GPs considered continuity of care for these patients as important. However, some doubted whether a transfer of information is relevant for the quality of care. There was no relation between the information transfer and the used GP information systems. CONCLUSION: For only a minority of patients receiving palliative care, a transfer of information including an anticipating management plan was present. There is a large variation in the opinions of GPs on how to organize continuity of end-of-life care.
BACKGROUND: Continuity of end-of-life care for patients receiving palliative care is an important challenge for out-of-hours services in general practice. AIM: To investigate how frequent information is transferred on patients receiving palliative care from GPs to the out-of-hours services, to explore the perceptions of GP's on this information transfer and to study the relation between information transfer and the used GP information systems. METHODS: This is a mixed-method design study. The frequency of information transfer to the out-of-hours services was investigated by analyzing a regional out-of-hours database. Barriers and promoting factors for this transfer of information were investigated by using semi-structured interviews among a purposive sample of GPs from the same region. The relation between information transfer and the GP information system was investigated by a postal questionnaire in a national random selection of GPs. RESULTS: When a palliative patient contacted the out-of-hours service, for 20% of these patients, a transfer of information was available and only half of these transfers included an anticipating end-of-life plan. All interviewed GPs considered continuity of care for these patients as important. However, some doubted whether a transfer of information is relevant for the quality of care. There was no relation between the information transfer and the used GP information systems. CONCLUSION: For only a minority of patients receiving palliative care, a transfer of information including an anticipating management plan was present. There is a large variation in the opinions of GPs on how to organize continuity of end-of-life care.
Authors: Carriene Roorda; Geertruida H de Bock; Christian Scholing; Klaas van der Meer; Marjolein Y Berger; Marlieke de Fouw; Annette J Berendsen Journal: Health Expect Date: 2014-03-25 Impact factor: 3.377
Authors: Maria C De Korte-Verhoef; H Roeline W Pasman; Bart P M Schweitzer; Anneke L Francke; Bregje D Onwuteaka-Philipsen; Luc Deliens Journal: BMC Fam Pract Date: 2012-08-22 Impact factor: 2.497
Authors: Bart Schweitzer; Nettie Blankenstein; Willemjan Slort; Dirk L Knol; Luc Deliens; Henriette Van Der Horst Journal: Scand J Prim Health Care Date: 2016-04-19 Impact factor: 2.581