Out-of-hours palliative care provided by GP co-operatives: availability, content and effect of transferred information
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Out-of-hours GP care in England, Denmark and the Netherlands has been reorganised and is now provided by large scale GP co-operatives. Adequate transfer of information is necessary in order to assure continuity of care, which is of m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2009-01-01
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| Series: | BMC Palliative Care |
| Online Access: | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-684X/8/17 |
| _version_ | 1818117549288587264 |
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| author | Deliens Luc Schweitzer Bart Blankenstein Nettie Horst Henriette |
| author_facet | Deliens Luc Schweitzer Bart Blankenstein Nettie Horst Henriette |
| author_sort | Deliens Luc |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Out-of-hours GP care in England, Denmark and the Netherlands has been reorganised and is now provided by large scale GP co-operatives. Adequate transfer of information is necessary in order to assure continuity of care, which is of major importance in palliative care. We conducted a study to assess the availability, content and effect of information transferred to the GP co-operatives.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cross-sectional exploratory study of all palliative care phone calls during a period of one year to a GP co-operative.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The total number of phone calls about patients who needed palliative care was 0.75% of all calls to the GP co-operative. Information was transferred by GPs on 25.5% of palliative care patient calls, and on 12% of palliative care patient calls from residential care homes. For terminally ill patients the number of information transfers increased to 28.9%. When information was transferred, the content consisted mainly of clinical data. Information about the diagnosis and current problems was transferred in more than 90% of cases, information about the patient's wishes in 45% and information about the patient's psychosocial situation in 30.5% of cases.</p> <p>A home visit was made after 53% of the palliative care calls.</p> <p>When information was transferred, fewer patients were referred to a hospital.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>GPs frequently fail to transfer information about their palliative care patients to the GP co-operatives. Locums working at the GP co-operative are thus required to provide palliative care in complex situations without receiving adequate information</p> <p>GPs should be encouraged and trained to make this information available to the GP co-operatives.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T04:40:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a34d736ee82e4a728cec686a3ef44f5d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-684X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T04:40:10Z |
| publishDate | 2009-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Palliative Care |
| spelling | doaj.art-a34d736ee82e4a728cec686a3ef44f5d2022-12-22T01:20:39ZengBMCBMC Palliative Care1472-684X2009-01-018117Out-of-hours palliative care provided by GP co-operatives: availability, content and effect of transferred informationDeliens LucSchweitzer BartBlankenstein NettieHorst Henriette<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Out-of-hours GP care in England, Denmark and the Netherlands has been reorganised and is now provided by large scale GP co-operatives. Adequate transfer of information is necessary in order to assure continuity of care, which is of major importance in palliative care. We conducted a study to assess the availability, content and effect of information transferred to the GP co-operatives.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cross-sectional exploratory study of all palliative care phone calls during a period of one year to a GP co-operative.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The total number of phone calls about patients who needed palliative care was 0.75% of all calls to the GP co-operative. Information was transferred by GPs on 25.5% of palliative care patient calls, and on 12% of palliative care patient calls from residential care homes. For terminally ill patients the number of information transfers increased to 28.9%. When information was transferred, the content consisted mainly of clinical data. Information about the diagnosis and current problems was transferred in more than 90% of cases, information about the patient's wishes in 45% and information about the patient's psychosocial situation in 30.5% of cases.</p> <p>A home visit was made after 53% of the palliative care calls.</p> <p>When information was transferred, fewer patients were referred to a hospital.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>GPs frequently fail to transfer information about their palliative care patients to the GP co-operatives. Locums working at the GP co-operative are thus required to provide palliative care in complex situations without receiving adequate information</p> <p>GPs should be encouraged and trained to make this information available to the GP co-operatives.</p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-684X/8/17 |
| spellingShingle | Deliens Luc Schweitzer Bart Blankenstein Nettie Horst Henriette Out-of-hours palliative care provided by GP co-operatives: availability, content and effect of transferred information BMC Palliative Care |
| title | Out-of-hours palliative care provided by GP co-operatives: availability, content and effect of transferred information |
| title_full | Out-of-hours palliative care provided by GP co-operatives: availability, content and effect of transferred information |
| title_fullStr | Out-of-hours palliative care provided by GP co-operatives: availability, content and effect of transferred information |
| title_full_unstemmed | Out-of-hours palliative care provided by GP co-operatives: availability, content and effect of transferred information |
| title_short | Out-of-hours palliative care provided by GP co-operatives: availability, content and effect of transferred information |
| title_sort | out of hours palliative care provided by gp co operatives availability content and effect of transferred information |
| url | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-684X/8/17 |
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