Developing a research culture for palliative care.

Abstract

The need for research and critical evaluation alongside the delivery of compassionate care was recognized at the time of the foundation of the modern hospice movement and has been further developed in the emerging specialty of palliative care. The need for new initiatives to stimulate and support high quality research has been recognized by individuals working in palliative care, by charities and by the Palliative Care Research Forum of Great Britain and Ireland, which has now become a membership organization. In order to consider how palliative care research might best be nurtured and supported, it is important to address a number of broad questions such as why palliative care research is needed, what has already been achieved and why more has not been achieved so far.