title: What Are Physicians' Reasons for Not Referring People with Life-Limiting Illnesses to Specialist Palliative Care Services? A Nationwide Survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many people who might benefit from specialist palliative care services are not using them.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We examined the use of these services and the reasons for not using them in a population in potential need of palliative care.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a population-based survey regarding end-of-life care among physicians certifying a large representative sample (n = 6188) of deaths in Flanders, Belgium.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Palliative care services were not used in 79% of cases of people with organ failure, 64% of dementia and 44% of cancer. The most frequently indicated reasons were that 1) existing care already sufficiently addressed palliative and supportive needs (56%), 2) palliative care was not deemed meaningful (26%) and 3) there was insufficient time to initiate palliative care (24%). The reasons differed according to patient characteristics: in people with dementia the consideration of palliative care as not meaningful was more likely to be a reason for not using it; in older people their care needs already being sufficiently addressed was more likely to be a reason. For those patients who were referred the timing of referral varied from a median of six days before death (organ failure) to 16 days (cancer).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Specialist palliative care is not initiated in almost half of the people for whom it could be beneficial, most frequently because physicians deem regular caregivers to be sufficiently skilled in addressing palliative care needs. This would imply that the safeguarding of palliative care skills in this regular 'general' care is an essential health policy priority.
authors.affiliation: End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Beernaert
authors.affiliation: End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deliens
authors.affiliation: End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pardon
authors.affiliation: End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lieve
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van den Block
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Devroey
authors.affiliation: End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chambaere
authors.affiliation: End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001530:Belgium; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013727:Terminal Care; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult