ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2018
Computer screening for palliative care needs in primary care: a mixed-methods study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Equitable inclusion of patients with cancer on the palliative care register: a systematic review in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Pooled it
- The impact of eHealth use on general practice workload in the pre-COVID-19 era: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2024Pooled it
- Identification of patients with potential palliative care needs: A systematic review of screening tools in primary care.Palliative medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Evaluating Palliative Care Needs in Patients with Advanced Non-Malignant Chronic Conditions: An Umbrella Review of Needs Assessment Tools.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
- Palliative care knowledge and attitudes towards end-of-life care of nurses in tertiary hospitals.Curationis · 2025Article
- Vulnerable older people's views on proactive care planning: a qualitative interview study in primary care.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Be-SNAP: the Belgian Sepsis National Action Plan.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 6: Longitudinal qualitative and mixed-methods approaches for longitudinal and complex health themes in primary care research.The European journal of general practice · 2022Article
- Atrial fibrillation self screening, management and guideline recommended therapy (AF SELF SMART): A protocol for atrial fibrillation self-screening in general practice.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2021Article
- Timing of GP end-of-life recognition in people aged ≥75 years: retrospective cohort study using data from primary healthcare records in England.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020Article
- 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 difference an end-of-life diagnosis makes: qualitative interviews with providers of community health care for frail older people.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020Article
- Electronic care coordination systems for people with advanced progressive illness: a mixed-methods evaluation in Scottish primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020Article
- Recruiting general practitioners for palliative care research in primary care: real-life barriers explained.BMC family practice · 2019Article
- Descriptions of advanced multimorbidity: A scoping review with content analysis.Journal of multimorbidity and comorbidityReview
- An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Computer Screening to Support Decision-Making about Use of Palliative Care Registers in Primary Care: GP Think Aloud and Patient and Carer Interviews.Journal of primary care & community healthArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThough the majority of people could benefit from palliative care before they die, most do not receive this approach, especially those with multimorbidity and frailty. GPs find it difficult to identify such patients.
aimTo refine and evaluate the utility of a computer application (AnticiPal) to help primary care teams screen their registered patients for people who could benefit from palliative care. DESIGN AND
settingA mixed-methods study of eight GP practices in Scotland, conducted in 2016-2017.
methodAfter a search development cycle the authors adopted a mixed-methods approach, combining analysis of the number of people identified by the search with qualitative observations of the computer search as used by primary care teams, and interviews with professionals and patients.
resultsThe search identified 0.8% of 62 708 registered patients. A total of 27 multidisciplinary meetings were observed, and eight GPs and 10 patients were interviewed. GPs thought the search identified many unrecognised patients with advanced multimorbidity and frailty, but were concerned about workload implications of assessment and care planning. Patients and carers endorsed the value of proactive identification of people with advanced illness.
conclusionGP practices can use computer searching to generate lists of patients for review and care planning. The challenges of starting a conversation about the future remain. However, most patients regard key components of palliative care (proactive planning, including sharing information with urgent care services) as important. Screening for people with deteriorating health at risk from unplanned care is a current focus for quality improvement and should not be limited by labelling it solely as 'palliative care'.
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