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Palliative care in general practice: GP integration in caring for patients with advanced cancer
Background:
Patients with advanced cancer often desire home-based care, placing general practitioners (GPs) at the centre of complex clinical situations. The objective of this article was to determine GPs' needs when providing home-based palliative care in collaboration with existing palliative care services.
Methods:
A survey of GPs was conducted to determine knowledge, skills and confidence in providing community-based palliative care.
Results:
Of the 56 respondents, 82% reported that they were involved in palliative management of at least one cancer patient in the previous year. A significant number of GPs (31%) lacked confidence in providing this care because of patient complexity, inadequate training and insufficient resources. Other barriers included poor communication from specialists and treating teams. Factors facilitating provision of home-based palliative care were community palliative care services and links to hospital-based palliative care teams.
Discussion:
This survey highlights the importance of support and resources to empower GPs to confidently provide home-based palliative care for patients with advanced cancer.
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