title: Referral to specialist palliative care.
abstract: Recent literature has suggested that earlier referral to palliative care can improve quality of life and prognosis. The decision to refer to palliative care is a complex process that can involve an interplay of interpersonal, subjective and institutional factors. Negotiating this referral process can be challenging to a medical specialist from a professional and personal viewpoint. What remains unknown is what actually influences the individual clinician to refer a patient to palliative care.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Science, University of Queensland Palliative Care, St Vincent's Brisbane, Brisbane,Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Broom
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kirby
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Good
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001315:Australia; D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine; D010166:Palliative Care; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012017:Referral and Consultation
keywords: medical specialist; oncology; palliative care; referral practice