[What do cancer centers do to improve community palliative care ?].
This study's purpose was to gain insight into practical strategies for improving community palliative care in Japan. Focus groups were held involving physicians, medical social workers, and nurses of 6 cancer centers, and the collected data were qualitatively analyzed. A total of 19 categories were examined. They were related to 1 )education for medical health care professionals about palliative care, 2 )public education about palliative care, 3 )specialized palliative care service, and 4 ) constructing a community palliative care network. Additionally, 7 categories related to medical and social systems were analyzed. The list proposed in this study may be effective for systematically understanding approaches to improve community palliative care. The implementation of nationwide focus groups which rapidly disclose their results may contribute to improving regional palliative care at a national level.
Dept. of Palliative Medicine and Psycho-Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, East, Japan.
Hiroya
H
Kinoshita
Satoshi
S
Watanabe
Tetsuo
T
Ogasawara
Atsushi
A
Hashimoto
Naoki
N
Matsuo
Satoshi
S
Miyake
Tatsuya
T
Morita
D017028:Caregivers; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019058:Community Networks; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care