[High prevalence of advanced cancer disease in patients with serious non-specific symtoms. Experience of a diagnostic pathway in a defined population area in Sweden].

The Swedish fast-track diagnostic pathway was applied during 2017 for 146 patients with serious non-specific symptoms including weight loss, fatigue and anemia. Within five days all patients had a physical examination and a decision was made of radiologic investigations. The waiting time was short for e.

Improved data validity in the Swedish Register of Palliative Care.

Introduction: The Swedish Register of Palliative Care (SRPC) is a national quality register that collects data about end-of-life care from healthcare providers that care for dying patients. Data are used for quality control and research. Data are mainly collected with an end-of-life questionnaire (ELQ), which is completed by healthcare staff after the death of a patient.

Does a half-day course about palliative care matter? A quantitative and qualitative evaluation among health care practitioners.

Background: To date there has been a paucity of research examining whether a course in palliative care influences the clinical work. Therefore a half-day course was started for different professionals.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to quantitatively and qualitatively explore professionals' experience of the usefulness and importance of such a course.

Developing a national quality register in end-of-life care: the Swedish experience.

Background: The complexity of end-of-life care, represented by a large number of units caring for dying patients, different types of organizations and difficulties in identification and prognostication, signifies the importance of finding ways to measure the quality of end-of-life care.

Aim: To establish, test and manage a national quality register for end-of-life care.

Design: Two questionnaires were developed with an attempt to retrospectively identify important aspects of the care delivered during the last week in life.

Validation study of an end-of-life questionnaire from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care.

Unlabelled: Quality in health care is important to measure and palliative care is no exception. The Swedish Register of Palliative Care (SRPC) is a national quality register that focuses on the last week of life. It collects data with an end-of-life questionnaire (ELQ), which is validated in this study.

Pain and pain alleviation in hospital-based home care: demographic, biological and treatment factors.

The aim of this study was to contrast two opposed groups, namely palliative cancer patients who were suffering significant pain (VAS> or =4) and palliative cancer patients with no pain (VAS = 0) in hospital-based home care and, retrospectively, to study possible differences in relation to demographic, biological and treatment factors. The ESAS (Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale) was used to assess 191 palliative cancer patients on admission and after 1 week of home care. Fifty-two (27%) had pain (mean 5.

Patterns of referral to a palliative care unit: an indicator of different attitudes toward the dying patient?

In 1996 a specialized palliative care unit was opened at the Linköping University Hospital in Sweden and different patterns of referral from different parts of the district soon became apparent. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying these patterns. During the first 6 months, 133 referrals were analyzed.