title: Palliative care in general practice: GP integration in caring for patients with advanced cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with advanced cancer often desire home-based care, placing general practitioners (GPs) at the centre of complex clinical situations. The objective of this article was to determine GPs' needs when providing home-based palliative care in collaboration with existing palliative care services.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey of GPs was conducted to determine knowledge, skills and confidence in providing community-based palliative care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 56 respondents, 82% reported that they were involved in palliative management of at least one cancer patient in the previous year. A significant number of GPs (31%) lacked confidence in providing this care because of patient complexity, inadequate training and insufficient resources. Other barriers included poor communication from specialists and treating teams. Factors facilitating provision of home-based palliative care were community palliative care services and links to hospital-based palliative care teams.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This survey highlights the importance of support and resources to empower GPs to confidently provide home-based palliative care for patients with advanced cancer.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eastman
authors.forename: Sita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vij
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: McCormack
authors.forename: Cuong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duong
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philip
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D058006:General Practice / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014739:Victoria