Feasibility and effectiveness of a two-tiered intervention involving training and a new consultation model for patients with palliative care needs in primary care: A before-after study

Sage Palliative Medicine & Chronic Care

This episode features Dr Carlos Seiça Cardoso (Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal CINTESIS@RISE, MEDCIDS, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal)

What is already known about the topic?

• The burden of chronic, progressive, incurable and life-threatening illness is increasing, highlighting the need to integrate palliative care into patients’ care plans.
• Data indicate that involving General Practitioners in the provision of palliative care may improve outcomes for patients and families, but the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions for patients with palliative care needs in primary care is still scarce.

What this paper adds?

• We developed a training programme, from logistics to content, to be feasible for General Practitioners and to address the main topics in which they identified training needs.
• A two-tiered intervention was implemented, involving training and a new consultation model; this was shown to be feasible and effective in reducing the physical and emotional symptoms of patients with palliative needs managed in primary care.
• To the best of our knowledge, this is the first intervention involving General Practitioners, that assesses the impact on patients’ self-reported symptoms and demonstrates positive effects.

Implications for practice, theory, or policy

• General Practitioners may test whether the intervention is applicable in their own setting, as there is potential for transferability to similar primary care settings elsewhere in the world.

• We successfully implemented and evaluated an intervention with a statistically and clinically important impact on patients, showing that research in primary palliative care can and must expand, as it may be key in the initial care of patients with palliative needs.

Full paper available from:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02692163231219682

If you would like to record a podcast about your published (or accepted) Palliative Medicine paper, please contact Dr Amara Nwosu:

[email protected]