Stopped: Recruitment problems has forced us to change the design of this study from a clinical trial to a comparative study of 3 different groups of patients.
Background: Approximately one third of all deaths in Denmark are caused by cancer. Both Danish and international research shows that the majority of terminally ill cancer patients wish to die at home. In Denmark only about 25% has this wish fulfilled. The General Practitioner (GP) has traditionally had the full responsibility for the palliative care of terminally ill cancer patients. In recent years changes have been made to the organisation of palliative care: some hospitals have set up specialised palliative care teams and in some areas of Denmark hospices have been established. Recent research defines a problem when it comes to communication between the hospital and general practice when the patient is being discharged. This is often done in a way that can cause the patient to feel "left in limbo", especially if it is not completely clear to the patient and his or her relatives who has the responsibility for the palliative care. Objective: 1. To describe consequences for patients, relatives and health care professionals of three different ways of organising palliative care 2. To collect data which describes patients who are candidates to a shared care approach between general practice and a specialised palliative care team 3. To collect data which describes the palliative phase (place of death and palliative care, admissions to hospital, involvement of GP and district nurse etc.) 4. To describe terminally ill cancer patients and their relatives expectations of the health care system 270 terminally ill cancer patients will be invited to take part in the study. Data will be collected by interview with patients and questionnaires for patients, relatives and involved health care professionals.
See this in plain English?
AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.
Patients wish for place of death and place of terminal care fulfilled
Timeframe: The patient will be asked about preference for place of death and place for terminal care at inclusion and a month later. At the time of death we will be able to establish weather the patient had his or her wishes fulfilled.
Relative amount of time spent in hospital in the terminal phase
Timeframe: At the patients time of death we will be able to count number of days spent in hospital using the hospitals electronic patient files.
A subjective measure of the patients symptoms and quality of life (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire of Palliative care [EORTC-QLQ-15-PAL])
Timeframe: Will be measured at the time of inclusion and a month later.