TY - JOUR
T1 - Cooperating with a palliative home-care team: expectations and evaluations of GPs and district nurses.
AU - Goldschmidt, Dorthe
AU - Groenvold, Mogens
AU - Johnsen, Anna Thit
AU - Strömgren, Annette S
AU - Krasnik, Allan
AU - Schmidt, Lone
N1 - Keywords: Attitude of Health Personnel; Community Health Nursing; Denmark; Family Practice; Home Care Services; Humans; Interprofessional Relations; Palliative Care; Program Evaluation; Prospective Studies; Quality of Health Care; Questionnaires
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 15920939
SN - 0269-2163
VL - 19
SP - 241
EP - 250
JO - Palliative Medicine : A Multiprofessional Journal
JF - Palliative Medicine : A Multiprofessional Journal
IS - 3
ER -