Population's Potential Accessibility to Specialized Palliative Care Services: A Comparative Study in Three European Countries

A Comparison of Hospice Care Utilization Between Rural and Urban Children in Appalachia: A Geographic Information Systems Analysis

Long driving times from hospice providers to patients lead to poor quality of care, which may exacerbate in rural and highly isolated areas of Appalachia. This study aimed to investigate geographic patterns of pediatric hospice care across Appalachia. Using person-level Medicaid claims of 1,788 pediatric hospice enrollees who resided in the Appalachian Region between 2011 and 2013. A database of boundaries of Appalachian counties, postal addresses of hospices, and population-weighted county centroids of residences of hospice enrollees driving times from the nearest hospices were calculated. A choropleth map was created to visualize rural/urban differences in receiving hospice care. The average driving time from hospice to child residence was 28 minutes (SD = 26). The longest driving time was in Eastern Kentucky-126 minutes (SD = 32), and the shortest was in South Carolina-11 min (SD = 9.1). The most significant differences in driving times between rural and urban counties were found in Virginia 28 (SD = 7.5) and 5 minutes (SD = 0), respectively, Tennessee-43 (SD = 28) and 8 minutes (SD = 7), respectively; and West Virginia-49 (SD = 30) and 12 minutes (SD = 4), respectively. Many pediatric hospice patients reside in isolated counties with long driving times from the nearest hospices. State-level policies should be developed to reduce driving times from hospice providers.

Geographic Information Systems Utilization in Pediatric End-of-Life Research: A Scoping Review

Currently, little is known about how geographic information systems (GIS) has been utilized to study end-of-life care in pediatric populations. The purpose of this review was to collect and examine the existing evidence on how GIS methods have been used in pediatric end-of-life research over the last 20 years. Scoping review method was used to summarize existing evidence and inform research methods and clinical practice was used. The Preferred Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA) was utilized. The search resulted in a final set of 17 articles. Most studies created maps for data visualization and used ArcGIS as the primary software for analysis. The scoping review revealed that GIS methodology has been limited to mapping, but that there is a significant opportunity to expand the use of this methodology for pediatric end-of-life care research.

European Respiratory Society clinical practice guideline: palliative care for people with COPD or interstitial lung disease

There is increased awareness of palliative care needs in people with COPD or interstitial lung disease (ILD). This European Respiratory Society (ERS) task force aimed to provide recommendations for initiation and integration of palliative care into the respiratory care of adult people with COPD or ILD. The ERS task force consisted of 20 members, including representatives of people with COPD or ILD and informal caregivers. Eight questions were formulated, four in the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome format. These were addressed with full systematic reviews and application of Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation for assessing the evidence. Four additional questions were addressed narratively. An "evidence-to-decision" framework was used to formulate recommendations. The following definition of palliative care for people with COPD or ILD was agreed. A holistic and multidisciplinary person-centred approach aiming to control symptoms and improve quality of life of people with serious health-related suffering because of COPD or ILD, and to support their informal caregivers. Recommendations were made regarding people with COPD or ILD and their informal caregivers: to consider palliative care when physical, psychological, social or existential needs are identified through holistic needs assessment; to offer palliative care interventions, including support for informal caregivers, in accordance with such needs; to offer advance care planning in accordance with preferences; and to integrate palliative care into routine COPD and ILD care. Recommendations should be reconsidered as new evidence becomes available.

Accessibility to specialist palliative care services in Germany: a geographical network analysis

BACKGROUND

The need for palliative care will increase over the next years because of the rise in deaths from chronic illness and demographic changes. The provision of specialist palliative care (SPC) in Germany (palliative care units (PCU), specialist palliative home care (SPHC) teams and palliative care advisory (PCA) teams) has been expanded in recent years. Despite the increasing availability, there is still insufficient coverage with long travel times. The aim was to describe the spatial distribution of SPC services in Germany, to calculate the potential accessibility of facilities and to assess potential spatial under-provision.

METHODS

Retrospective cross-sectional study with regional analysis of SPC services in Germany. Addresses of SPC services registered online were geocoded, accessibility and network analyses were conducted, and proportion of the population living up to 60 minutes driving time were calculated.

RESULTS

A total of 673 facilities were included. Their distribution is heterogeneous with every fourth of the 401 districts (110/401; 27.4%) lacking a SPC service. In half of the area of Germany the existing PCU and SPHC teams are within reach of 30 minutes, with nearly 90% of the population living there. Hospitals providing PCA teams can be reached within 30 minutes in 17% of the total area with provision for 43% of the population.

CONCLUSIONS

A high coverage of SPHC teams and PCU indicates a good spatial distribution in Germany but no complete adequate provision of SPC services, especially for PCA teams. There is a persistent need for further implementation of hospital PCA teams.