Rapidly increasing end-of-life care needs: a timely warning
Abstract Current trends in population ageing show that, in the near future, while more people will live longer, more will also die at any one time. Health systems, as well as individual practitioners, are only just becoming aware of the extent of this problem. Health systems will have to rapidly cha...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2017-07-01
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| Series: | BMC Medicine |
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| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12916-017-0897-2 |
| _version_ | 1818877606922027008 |
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| author | Geoffrey Mitchell |
| author_facet | Geoffrey Mitchell |
| author_sort | Geoffrey Mitchell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Current trends in population ageing show that, in the near future, while more people will live longer, more will also die at any one time. Health systems, as well as individual practitioners, are only just becoming aware of the extent of this problem. Health systems will have to rapidly change practice to manage the number of people dying in the coming years, many with complex multimorbid conditions. The changes involved should include a personal recognition by all health professionals of their role in caring for the dying, and healthcare education must include end-of-life care management as part of the core curriculum. Further, health systems must improve integration between primary care and specialist clinicians to ensure the burden is shared efficiently across the system. Finally, it should be recognised that end-of-life care is not terminal care, but should be anticipated months or sometimes years ahead through advance care planning for known future complications by the patient’s clinical team, as well as by patients and their main carers, to manage crises as they ariserather than react to them once they arise. Please see related article: https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/ 10.1186/s12916-017-0860-2 . |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T14:00:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4c80763cd23349d69b51493358d88a70 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1741-7015 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T14:00:58Z |
| publishDate | 2017-07-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-4c80763cd23349d69b51493358d88a702022-12-21T20:18:28ZengBMCBMC Medicine1741-70152017-07-011511210.1186/s12916-017-0897-2Rapidly increasing end-of-life care needs: a timely warningGeoffrey Mitchell0Faculty of Medicine,University of QueenslandAbstract Current trends in population ageing show that, in the near future, while more people will live longer, more will also die at any one time. Health systems, as well as individual practitioners, are only just becoming aware of the extent of this problem. Health systems will have to rapidly change practice to manage the number of people dying in the coming years, many with complex multimorbid conditions. The changes involved should include a personal recognition by all health professionals of their role in caring for the dying, and healthcare education must include end-of-life care management as part of the core curriculum. Further, health systems must improve integration between primary care and specialist clinicians to ensure the burden is shared efficiently across the system. Finally, it should be recognised that end-of-life care is not terminal care, but should be anticipated months or sometimes years ahead through advance care planning for known future complications by the patient’s clinical team, as well as by patients and their main carers, to manage crises as they ariserather than react to them once they arise. Please see related article: https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/ 10.1186/s12916-017-0860-2 .http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12916-017-0897-2End-of-life carePrimary careHealthcare planningHealthcare integration |
| spellingShingle | Geoffrey Mitchell Rapidly increasing end-of-life care needs: a timely warning BMC Medicine End-of-life care Primary care Healthcare planning Healthcare integration |
| title | Rapidly increasing end-of-life care needs: a timely warning |
| title_full | Rapidly increasing end-of-life care needs: a timely warning |
| title_fullStr | Rapidly increasing end-of-life care needs: a timely warning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rapidly increasing end-of-life care needs: a timely warning |
| title_short | Rapidly increasing end-of-life care needs: a timely warning |
| title_sort | rapidly increasing end of life care needs a timely warning |
| topic | End-of-life care Primary care Healthcare planning Healthcare integration |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12916-017-0897-2 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT geoffreymitchell rapidlyincreasingendoflifecareneedsatimelywarning |