A qualitative exploration of the collaborative working between palliative care and geriatric medicine : barriers and facilitators from a European perspective

UNSPECIFIED (2016) A qualitative exploration of the collaborative working between palliative care and geriatric medicine : barriers and facilitators from a European perspective. BMC Palliative Care, 15: 47. ISSN 1472-684X

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Abstract

Background With an increasing number of people dying in old age, collaboration between palliative care and geriatric medicine is increasingly being advocated in order to promote better health and health care for the increasing number of older people. The aim of this study is to identify barriers and facilitators and good practice examples of collaboration and integration between palliative care and geriatric medicine from a European perspective. Methods Four semi-structured group interviews were undertaken with 32 participants from 18 countries worldwide. Participants were both clinicians (geriatricians, GPs, palliative care specialists) and academic researchers. The interviews were transcribed and independent analyses performed by two researchers who then reached consensus. Results Limited knowledge and understanding of what the other discipline offers, a lack of common practice and a lack of communication between disciplines and settings were considered as barriers for collaboration between palliative care and geriatric medicine. Multidisciplinary team working, integration, strong leadership and recognition of both disciplines as specialties were considered as facilitators of collaborative working. Whilst there are instances of close clinical working between disciplines, examples of strategic collaboration in education and policy were more limited. Conclusions Improving knowledge about its principles and acquainting basic palliative care skills appears mandatory for geriatricians and other health care professionals. In addition, establishing more academic chairs is seen as a priority in order to develop more education and development at the intersection of palliative care and geriatric medicine.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
BMC Palliative Care
Additional Information:
© 2016 Albers et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700
Subjects:
?? medicine(all) ??
ID Code:
79670
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
20 May 2016 10:38
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
25 Mar 2024 00:28