Publications
Effect of early and systematic integration of palliative care in patients with advanced cancer Vrije Universiteit Brussel Ghent University KU Leuven
BACKGROUND: The benefit of early integration of palliative care into oncological care is suggested to be due to increased psychosocial support. In Belgium, psychosocial care is part of standard oncological care. The aim of this randomised controlled trial is to examine whether early and systematic integration of palliative care alongside standard psychosocial oncological care provides added benefit compared with usual care.
METHODS: ...
Phase 0-1 early palliative home care cancer treatment intervention study Vrije Universiteit Brussel Ghent University
OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have shown that the early provision of palliative care (PC) integrated into oncology in the hospital has beneficial effects on the quality of life of people who are dying and their family caregivers. However, a model to integrate palliative home care (PHC) early in oncology care is lacking. Therefore, our aim is to develop the Early Palliative Home care Embedded in Cancer Treatment (EPHECT) intervention.
...Is There a Need for Early Palliative Care in Patients With Life-Limiting Illnesses? Vrije Universiteit Brussel Ghent University
The early integration of specialist palliative care has been shown to benefit the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer. In order to explore whether other seriously ill people and people at even earlier phases would also benefit from early palliative care, we conducted 18 qualitative interviews with people having cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease, heart failure, or dementia at different phases of the illness trajectory about ...
Barriers to the early integration of palliative home care into the disease trajectory of advanced cancer patients Vrije Universiteit Brussel Ghent University
OBJECTIVES: Palliative care is still often involved late in the disease trajectory. Recently, some studies have explored the barriers to early integration of PC in the hospital setting. Because palliative care home care (PHC) is organised differently compared with PC in a hospital setting, the identification of barriers to the early integration of PHC is needed.
METHODS: Six focus groups were held with PHC teams in Flanders, Belgium. ...
Early integration of palliative care in oncology Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Palliative care has evolved in the last half a century from a philosophy of care aiming at care of dying patients to specific/standalone medical specialization caring of patients with incurable diseases. Patients with advanced cancer suffer from physical and psychical symptoms, existential and social distress and have limited prognosis. Today we have strong clinical data about feasibility and usefulness of early integration of palliative care ...