Patterns for End-of-Life Care of Patients With Advanced Cancer: An Integrative Review.

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• Oncology
• End-of-Life Studies

Background:

• End-of-life care for advanced cancer patients is crucial for dignity.
• Care can be comfort-oriented or non-comfort-oriented, impacting quality of life.
• Existing end-of-life care patterns for advanced cancer patients require clarification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive overview of end-of-life care patterns in advanced cancer patients.
• To identify factors associated with comfort-oriented versus non-comfort-oriented care.
• To inform strategies for improving patient-centered end-of-life care.

Main Methods:

• Integrative review using Whittemore's method.
• Searches conducted in PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar.
• Population/Patient, Exposure, and Outcome (PEO) format used for research question.

Main Results:

• Twenty-four articles were reviewed, analyzing care settings, palliative care involvement, intervention intensity, duration, and advance planning.
• Comfort-oriented care was exclusively in community settings; hospitals offered both.
• Palliative care involvement correlated with comfort-oriented care, earlier recognition of dying, and optimized medication.

Conclusions:

• New strategies are needed to guide clinical practice for end-of-life care.
• Ensuring patient-centered care is paramount.
• Distinguishing and promoting comfort-oriented care pathways is essential.