Abstract
BackgroundWith an increasing number of people dying in old age, collaboration between palliative care and geriatric medicine is increasingly being advocated in order to promote better health and health care for the increasing number of older people. The aim of this study is to identify barriers and facilitators and good practice examples of collaboration and integration between palliative care and geriatric medicine from a European perspective.MethodsFour semi-structured group interviews were undertaken with 32 participants from 18 countries worldwide. Participants were both clinicians (geriatricians, GPs, palliative care specialists) and academic researchers. The interviews were transcribed and independent analyses performed by two researchers who then reached consensus.ResultsLimited knowledge and understanding of what the other discipline offers, a lack of common practice and a lack of communication between disciplines and settings were considered as barriers for collaboration between palliative care and geriatric medicine. Multidisciplinary team working, integration, strong leadership and recognition of both disciplines as specialties were considered as facilitators of collaborative working. Whilst there are instances of close clinical working between disciplines, examples of strategic collaboration in education and policy were more limited.ConclusionsImproving knowledge about its principles and acquainting basic palliative care skills appears mandatory for geriatricians and other health care professionals. In addition, establishing more academic chairs is seen as a priority in order to develop more education and development at the intersection of palliative care and geriatric medicine.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12904-016-0118-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
With an increasing number of people dying in old age, collaboration between palliative care and geriatric medicine is increasingly being advocated in order to promote better health and health care for the increasing number of older people
An invitation email was sent by members of the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EUGMS) working group to all people who were registered for the 2013 EUGMS congress and by the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) secretary to all those registered to participate in the 2014 EAPC congress
Older people often have diseases that cannot be cured anymore. In that sense they [older people]– when you look at the definition of palliative care they belong to– they have the right to that care [palliative care]. (PC medical specialist and elderly care physician, NL, I3)
Summary
With an increasing number of people dying in old age, collaboration between palliative care and geriatric medicine is increasingly being advocated in order to promote better health and health care for the increasing number of older people. Populations are ageing in all European countries with a rapid increase in the number of people over 80 years old [1]. Increasing life expectancy and the ageing of populations present significant challenges for the provision of optimal care to this population, with respect to their needs for supportive and palliative care [2, 3]. Most older people will die from these chronic illnesses, the end of life is generally preceded by a lengthy period of decline and functional impairment [6]. In the course of illness, older people are at risk of receiving unnecessary medical investigations and treatments which are burdensome and expensive for the patient, family and society [7,8,9,10]
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