Purpose: In Germany, patients with incurable chronic diseases living at home increasingly have the option of using outpatient and day care hospice and specialized palliative care services. The present study examined and compared patients' and their relatives' preferences for end-of-life outpatient and day care services.
Patients And Methods: The study used a questionnaire integrating a discrete choice experiment.
In Germany, hospice and palliative care is well covered through inpatient, outpatient, and home-based care services. It is unknown if, and to what extent, there is a need for additional day care services to meet the specific needs of patients and caregivers. Two day hospices and two palliative day care clinics were selected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Spiritual needs gain importance in old age but are often ignored in health care. Within the 'Holistic care program for elderly patients to integrate spiritual needs, social activity and self-care into disease management in primary care (HoPES3)' a complex intervention was evaluated in a cluster-randomized trial. The aim of this study was to explore the acceptability, feasibility, benefits, and harms of a spiritual history taken by general practitioners (GPs) as part of the complex intervention.
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