Caring toward end of life through acute hospital and community partnerships: A scoping review

Global health systems are currently socially and economically burdened. Public health palliative care is an approach to caring toward end of life that can create the innovative change needed to address this inequity. Guided by the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986), public health palliative care promotes collaboration among palliative care services, civic institutions, and communities to build capacity in all aspects of death, dying, caregiving, and bereavement. Despite growing evidence for the public health approach to palliative care, little is known about how acute hospitals and communities can work together to provide care toward end of life.

To explore how acute hospitals and communities work together to provide care toward end of life.

Scoping review guided by Arskey and O'Malley framework.

Scopus, Pubmed, CINAHL, and Informit as well as gray literature were searched. Citations were independently assessed against inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Of the six included studies and reports, a priori themes of creating supportive environments; strengthening community action; reorienting health services; developing personal skills and building healthy public policy from the Charter were well represented. Additional themes of communication and language, culture and risk were also identified. Educational, arts health, community engagement initiatives were explored as well as clinical tools, psychosocial interventions, and the No One Dies Alone (NODA) program.

This review offers policymakers, hospitals, and practitioners a framework for implementing hospital-community partnerships toward end-of-life. Despite challenges in acute settings, these initiatives can enhance end-of-life experiences for patients and families.