Predicting unplanned hospital readmission in palliative outpatients (PRePP) - study protocol of a longitudinal, prospective study to identify informal caregiver-related and structural predictors.

Background: Although the majority of German patients in a palliative state prefer to die at home, the actual place of death is most often a hospital. Unplanned hospital readmissions (UHA) not only contradict most patients' preferences but also increase the probability of an aggressive end-of-life treatment. As limited knowledge is available which factors contribute to an UHA, the PRePP-project aims to explore predictors related to informal caregivers (IC) as well as medical and structural factors.