Where do GPs find patients with possible palliative care needs? A cross-sectional descriptive study

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• General Practice
• Screening Tools

Background:

• Early palliative care implementation requires identifying patients with unmet needs.
• The surprise question (SQ) is a screening tool to identify patients who may benefit from palliative care.
• A 'no' response to the SQ suggests potential palliative care needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe setting-specific screening results of patients eligible for early palliative care in family practices.
• To identify patients aged 45 years or older with a 'no' response to the SQ.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of a cross-sectional descriptive study in Belgian family practices.
• General practitioners (GPs) recruited via targeted sampling.
• GPs recorded SQ responses for all patients over 10 consecutive office days, noting patient demographics and setting.

Main Results:

• Fifty-six GPs provided data for 9150 patients.
• 6% of all patients (506/9150) received a 'no' SQ response.
• Patients in nursing homes (44%) and homes (14%) were more likely to receive a 'no' SQ response compared to those in GP surgeries (2%).

Conclusions:

• A significant number of patients identified via the SQ may require early palliative care.
• The study highlights the potential utility of the SQ in general practice settings.
• Future research should validate the SQ against other palliative care screening methods and symptom assessments.