Rural palliative care transitions from home to hospital: Carers' experiences

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To document carer perceptions of patients' transitions from community to hospital-based palliative care in a rural setting. DESIGN: A qualitative study using an interview method at two time points. SETTING: Rural palliative care providers: Kyneton District Health Service and the Macedon Ranges Palliative Care Service, Victoria. PARTICIPANTS: Six adult caregivers of six palliative care patients who had cancer were interviewed, three of whom were male and three female. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Semistructured interviews were conducted exploring the caregivers' decisions to transition to hospital-based care and their perceptions of the transition to hospital and the hospital-based care ..