[Key measures for developing palliative care from a public health perspective. Initial results from a three-round...

Recently, six key targets for public health initiatives to improve palliative care in Germany were defined. This article reports the initial results of a follow-up study aiming at developing concrete measures to achieve these targets. We carried out a three-round Delphi study with stakeholders acting on the meso- and macro-levels of the German healthcare system (e.g., representatives of patient organizations, health insurance funds, politics, medical and nursing associations). In the first Delphi round, participants proposed measures to achieve the six key targets using free-text answers. The answers were analyzed with a qualitative-descriptive approach. In total, 107 stakeholders responded to the first Delphi round. After data reduction, 37 measures were extracted and grouped into six major categories: family carers, qualification, quality, public relations, services, and coordination. The range of measures on the different levels of policy, health care, and education presents a substantiated basis for the elaboration of targeted public health action plans to improve palliative care. Prioritization of measures in the second and third Delphi rounds will provide empirical support for decision making.