ArticleBMC palliative care2016
Caring for frail older people in the last phase of life - the general practitioners' view.
Article in BMC palliative care, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Increasing the chance of dying at home: roles, tasks and approaches of general practitioners enabling palliative care: a systematic review of qualitative literature.BMC primary care · 2023Pooled it
- Frequent attenders in late life in primary care: a systematic review of European studies.BMC family practice · 2017Pooled it
- Development of an interprofessional person-centred care concept for persons with care needs living in their own homes in Germany (interprof HOME): a mixed methods study.BMC primary care · 2025Trial
- Uncertainty and unmet needs in older high-risk blunt trauma survivors and their caregivers: a multi-centre mixed methods study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Development of a patient assessment to meet the needs of patients suffering from advanced non-oncological diseases - the KOPAL trial.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Article
- Psychological stress of general practitioners in the care of patients with palliative care needs: an exploratory study.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Interprofessional collaboration in the home care setting: perspectives of people receiving home care, relatives, nurses, general practitioners, and therapists-results of a qualitative analysis.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Article
- Structured implementation of the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool in general practice - A prospective interventional study with follow-up.BMC palliative care · 2022Review
- Walking a mile in Grandma's shoes - medical students' evaluation of a very simple online aging game to enhance their understanding of older patients.BMC geriatrics · 2022Article
- Assessing and addressing vulnerability in pregnancy: General practitioners perceived barriers and facilitators - a qualitative interview study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- [Assessment tools for palliative care needs in patients with heart failure in general practice].Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2022Article
- Palliative Care in Older People with Multimorbidities: A Scoping Review on the Palliative Care Needs of Patients, Carers, and Health Professionals.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Development and implementation of a transmural palliative care consultation service: a multiple case study in the Netherlands.BMC palliative care · 2021Article
- Caring for frail older patients in the last phase of life : Challenges for general practitioners in the integration of geriatric and palliative care.Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie · 2020Article
- General practitioners' provision of end-of-life care and associations with dying at home: a registry-based longitudinal study.Family practice · 2020Article
- General practitioners' perceptions of best practice care at the end of life: a qualitative study.BJGP open · 2019Article
- Optimal care at the end of life (OPAL): study protocol of a prospective interventional mixed-methods study with pretest-posttest-design in a primary health care setting considering the view of general practitioners, relatives of deceased patients and health care stakeholders.BMC health services research · 2019Article
- Teamwork in primary palliative care: general practitioners' and specialised oncology nurses' complementary competencies.BMC health services research · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFrail older people are an increasingly important group in primary care due to demographic change. For these patients, a palliative care approach may be useful to sustain the quality of life in the last phase of their lives. While general practitioners (GPs) play a key role in the primary care for older patients, general palliative care is still in its infancy and little is known in Germany about caring for frail older people towards the end of life. This study aims to explore the tasks and challenges regarding the care for frail older patients in the last phase of life from the GPs' point of view, and the latter's perception of their own role and responsibilities.
methodsExplorative qualitative study based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 GPs from urban and rural regions in Lower Saxony, Germany. Analysis was carried out according to the principles of Grounded Theory.
resultsThe GPs' key commitment "caring for frail older patients until the end" as an integral part of primary care was worked out as a key category, flanked by central issues: "causal conditions and challenges," which include patients' preconditions and care needs as well as communication and cooperation aspects on the carers' level. "Barriers and facilitators within the health system" refers to prerequisites of the German healthcare system, such as high caseloads. Regarding "strategies to comply with this commitment", various self-developed strategies for the care of frail older people are presented, depending on the GPs' understanding of their professional role and individual circumstances.
conclusionsThe GPs show a strong commitment to caring for the frail older patients until the end of life. However, it is a challenging and complex task that requires significant time, which can take GPs to their limits. There is a great need to improve patient-and family-centered proactive communication, as well as interprofessional cooperation. Strengthening the team approach in primary care could relieve the burden on GPs, especially in rural areas, while simultaneously improving end-of-life care for their patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.