ArticlePloS one2015
What Are Physicians' Reasons for Not Referring People with Life-Limiting Illnesses to Specialist Palliative Care Services? A Nationwide Survey.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Palliative Care in Early Dementia.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of home healthcare on end-of-life outcomes for people with dementia: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2022Pooled it
- Non-pharmacological Management of Fibrosing Interstitial Lung Diseases.Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases · 2026Article
- Predicting hospice eligibility among dementia patients using language models.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Exploring hope and expectations amidst the shadows: Navigating through the hearts of cancer patients admitted to a palliative care unit.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Quality of end-of-life care with non-malignant liver disease: Analysis of the VOICES National Survey of Bereaved People.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2023Article
- Duration of palliative care involvement and immunotherapy treatment near the end of life among patients with cancer who died in-hospital.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Article
- Knowledge and use of prognostic scales by oncologists and palliative care physicians in adult patients with advanced cancer: A national survey (ONCOPRONO study).Cancer medicine · 2022Article
- Review
- Predictors of Mortality in Individuals with Dementia in the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2022Article
- Exploring socioeconomic inequities in access to palliative and end-of-life care in the UK: a narrative synthesis.BMC palliative care · 2021Article
- Earlier initiation of palliative care in the disease trajectory of people living with dementia: a scoping review protocol.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Palliative Care in Advanced Dementia: Comparison of Strategies in Three Countries.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Frequency of providing a palliative approach to care in family practice: a chart review and perceptions of healthcare practitioners in Canada.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Comparison of Palliative Care Delivery in the Last Year of Life Between Adults With Terminal Noncancer Illness or Cancer.JAMA network open · 2021Article
- Caregiver-Reported Barriers to Quality End-of-Life Care in Dementia With Lewy Bodies: A Qualitative Analysis.The American journal of hospice & palliative care · 2020Article
- How do physicians and nurses in family practice describe their care for patients with progressive life-limiting illness? A qualitative study of a 'palliative approach'.Primary health care research & development · 2019Article
- End-of-life experiences in dementia with Lewy bodies: Qualitative interviews with former caregivers.PloS one · 2019Article
- Observational
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMany people who might benefit from specialist palliative care services are not using them.
aimWe examined the use of these services and the reasons for not using them in a population in potential need of palliative care.
methodsWe conducted a population-based survey regarding end-of-life care among physicians certifying a large representative sample (n = 6188) of deaths in Flanders, Belgium.
resultsPalliative care services were not used in 79% of cases of people with organ failure, 64% of dementia and 44% of cancer. The most frequently indicated reasons were that 1) existing care already sufficiently addressed palliative and supportive needs (56%), 2) palliative care was not deemed meaningful (26%) and 3) there was insufficient time to initiate palliative care (24%). The reasons differed according to patient characteristics: in people with dementia the consideration of palliative care as not meaningful was more likely to be a reason for not using it; in older people their care needs already being sufficiently addressed was more likely to be a reason. For those patients who were referred the timing of referral varied from a median of six days before death (organ failure) to 16 days (cancer).
conclusionsSpecialist palliative care is not initiated in almost half of the people for whom it could be beneficial, most frequently because physicians deem regular caregivers to be sufficiently skilled in addressing palliative care needs. This would imply that the safeguarding of palliative care skills in this regular 'general' care is an essential health policy priority.
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