ArticleBMC health services research2016
Palliative care in Dutch hospitals: a rapid increase in the number of expert teams, a limited number of referrals.
Article in BMC health services research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Timely integration of palliative care into oncology care for patients with bone metastases at the radiotherapy department: A pilot study on acceptability and feasibility.Technical innovations & patient support in radiation oncology · 2025Article
- Development of specialist palliative care in Dutch hospitals between 2014 and 2020: a repeated survey.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Generalist, specialist, or expert in palliative care? A cross-sectional open survey on healthcare professionals' self-description.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Article
- Observational
- Optimizing palliative care education nationwide: a practice example from The Netherlands.Palliative care and social practice · 2024Article
- Measurement and documentation of quality indicators for the end-of-life care of hospital patients a nationwide retrospective record review study.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- More older adults died at their preferred place after implementation of a transmural care pathway for older adults at the end of life: a before-after study.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- Inappropriate end-of-life cancer care in a generalist and specialist palliative care model: a nationwide retrospective population-based observational study.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2022Observational
- Review
- Specialist palliative care teams and characteristics related to referral rate: a national cross-sectional survey among hospitals in the Netherlands.BMC palliative care · 2021Article
- Home care nurses more positive about the palliative care that is provided and their own competence than hospital nurses: a nationwide survey.BMC palliative care · 2021Article
- Functional impairment, symptom severity, and overall quality of life in patients with advanced lung or colorectal cancer in six European countries: baseline findings from the ACTION study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Article
- Added Value of Early Consultation of an Inpatient Palliative Care Team in Hospitalized Older Patients With High Symptom Burden: A Prospective Comparative Study.The American journal of hospice & palliative care · 2021Article
- Development and implementation of a transmural palliative care consultation service: a multiple case study in the Netherlands.BMC palliative care · 2021Article
- Identifying patients who could benefit from palliative care by making use of the general practice information system: the Surprise Question versus the SPICT.Family practice · 2020Article
- The association between palliative care team consultation and hospital costs for patients with advanced cancer: An observational study in 12 Dutch hospitals.European journal of cancer care · 2020Observational
- The Impact of Palliative Care Team Consultation on Quality of Life of Patients with Advanced Cancer in Dutch Hospitals: An Observational Study.Oncology research and treatment · 2020Observational
- What are essential elements of high-quality palliative care at home? An interview study among patients and relatives faced with advanced cancer.BMC palliative care · 2019Article
- Australian GPs' perceptions of barriers and enablers to best practice palliative care: a qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPalliative care expert teams in hospitals have positive effects on the quality of life and satisfaction with care of patients with advanced disease. Involvement of these teams in medical care is also associated with substantial cost savings. In the Netherlands, professional standards state that each hospital should have a palliative care team by 2017. We studied the number of hospitals that have a palliative care team and the characteristics of these teams.
methodsIn April 2015, questionnaires were mailed to key palliative care professionals in all general, teaching and academic hospitals in the Netherlands. Out of 92 hospitals, 74 responded (80 %).
resultsSeventy-seven percent of all participating hospitals had a palliative care team. Other services, such as outpatient clinics (22 %), palliative care inpatient units (7 %), and palliative day care facilities (4 %) were relatively scarce. The mean number of disciplines that were represented in the teams was 6,5. The most common disciplines were nurses (72 %) and nurse practitioners (54 %), physicians specialized in internal medicine (90 %) or anaesthesiology (75 %), and spiritual caregivers (65 %). In most cases, the physicians did not have labeled hours available for their work as palliative care consultant, whereas nurses and nurse practitioners did. Most teams (77 %) were only available during office hours. Twenty-six percent of the teams could not only be consulted by healthcare professionals but also by patients or relatives. The annual number of consultations for inpatients per year ranged from 2 to 680 (median: 77). On average, teams were consulted for 0.6 % of all patients admitted to the hospitals.
conclusionThe number of Dutch hospitals with a palliative care team is rapidly increasing. There are substantial differences between teams regarding the disciplines represented in the teams, the procedures and the number of consultations. The development of quality standards and adequate staffing of the teams could improve the quality and effectiveness of the teams.
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