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Care of the older person
Cohort study
Community palliative care use by dementia sufferers may reduce emergency department use at end of life
  1. David Kenneth Wright,
  2. Amanda Digel Vandyk
  1. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  1. Correspondence to : Dr David Kenneth Wright, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1H 8M5; davidwright{at}uottawa.ca

https://doi.org/10.1136/eb-2015-102122

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    Commentary on: Rosenwax L, Spilsbury K, Arendts G, et al. Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: a retrospective cohort study. Palliat Med 2015;29:727–36.OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed

    Implications for practice and research

    • We need to better understand how community palliative care should be organised and delivered to optimise well-being for the dementia population.

    • Research is needed to explore and explain the nature of the relationship between community palliative care and emergency department (ED) use.

    • More work is needed to examine which palliative care principles are most effective in reducing ED visits.

    Context

    Palliative care is a philosophy that emphasises quality of life, pain and symptom management, advanced care planning and person-centred and family-centred care. Despite a growing body of evidence supporting the appropriateness and relevance of palliative care across a spectrum of health conditions, including dementia, it continues to be organised and delivered predominantly for people with advanced cancer.

    This study is …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared.