Palliative care exists in a variety of settings and palliative care teams form
many guises within this. A Palliative Medicine Outpatient Clinic (PMOC) exists
to meet the flexible provision of the needs and preferences of individuals
within whatever care setting they reside. This explorative study used a
qualitative methodology, capturing patients’ actual experience of
care in preference to their satisfaction, as this is a more accurate measure of
how and what patients judge as important in their healthcare. The overall themes
in this paper point to the ‘value’ that patients
perceived from attending the PMOC and how important the clinics were to
clinicians that provided the care. The clinic facilitates much more than symptom
control and here lies the challenge in how we convert the very positive
experience of individuals into a language of outcome measures that captures the
‘essence’ of our work in this fiscally driven health
economy.
Department of Health. The
NICE guidance on supportive and palliative care for adults with
cancer. London: The
Stationery Office, 2004.
3.
DowningJ. Oncology out-patient nursing: a challenge within
the changing face of cancer. Eur J Oncol Nurs2001; 5:
49–59.
4.
National Audit Office.
Tackling cancer: improving the patient journey.
London: The Stationery
Office, 2005.
5.
Department of Health.
Building on the best: choice, responsiveness and equity in the
NHS. London: The
Stationery Office, 2003.
6.
Norelle LickissJTurnerSTLois PollockM. The interdisciplinary team.
Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, 3rd
edn., 42–46,
Chapter 2.
7.
Von PlessenCAlsaksenA. Improving the quality of palliative care for
ambulatory patients with cancer. Br Med J2005; 330:
1309–1313.
8.
FinlayIJPrathepawanitNSalekMS. Monitoring self-reported quality-of-life among
patients attending a palliative medicine outpatient clinic.
Palliat Med2003; 17:
83–84.
9.
FinchmanLCoppGCaldwellKJonesLTookmanA. Supportive care: experiences of cancer
patients. Eur J Oncol Nurs2005; 9:
258–268.
10.
TwycrossRG. Palliative care. A new specialist development in
oncology. IKR-Bull1995; 19:
6–9.
11.
RabowMWSchancheKPetersonJDibbleSLMcPheeSJ. Patient perceptions of an outpatient palliative
care intervention: ‘It had been on my mind before, but I did not
know where to start talking about
death…’. J Pain Symptom Manag2003; 26:
1010–1015.
12.
BennettMCorcoranG. The impact on community palliative care services
of a hospital palliative care team. Palliat Med1994; 8:
237–244.
13.
OliverD. The development of an interdisciplinary
outpatient clinic in specialist palliative care. Int
J Palliat Nurs2004; 10:
446–448.
14.
RichardsonJ. Health promotion in palliative care: the
patients’ perception of the therapeutic interaction with the
palliative nurse in the primary care setting. J Adv
Nurs2002; 40:
432–440.
15.
DeveryKLennieICooneyN. Health outcomes for people who use palliative
care services. J Palliat Care1999; 15:
5–8.
16.
IrvineD. Everyone is entitled to a good
doctor. Med J Aust2007; 186:
256–261.
17.
CrowRGageHHampsonS. The measurement of satisfaction with healthcare:
implications for practice from a systematic review of the
literature. Health Tech Assess2002; 6.
The Healthcare Commission. Variations in
the experiences of patients in England: analysis of the Healthcare
Commission’s 2003/2004 National Surveys of Patients.
2005.
20.
The Commission for Health
Improvement. Unpacking the patients’ perspective:
variations in patient experience in England,
2004.
21.
PattonMQ. Qualitative evaluation and research methods,
2nd edn, Newbury Park:
Sage, 1990.
22.
OgdenJJainA. Patients’ experience and
expectations of general practice: a questionnaire study of differences by
ethnic group. Br J Gen Pract2005; 1:
351–356.
23.
BraunVClarkeV. Using thematic analysis in
psychology. Qual Res Psychol2006; 3:
77–101.
24.
RitchieJSpencerL. Qualitative data analysis for applied
research. In: BrymanBurgess (eds) Analysing Qualitative Data.
London, 1994.
25.
MilesMHubermanM. Qualitative data analysis: A source book for new
method. Beverley Hills, CA:
Sage, 1994.
26.
RichardsonJ. Health promotion in palliative care: the
patients’ perception of the therapeutic interaction with the
palliative nurse in the primary care setting. J Adv
Nurs2002; 40:
432–440.
27.
Coulter A and Ellins J. Patient-focussed
interventions: a review of the evidence. Oxford: Picker Institute,
2006.
28.
Department of Health. Manual
for cancer services. 2004.
29.
Department of Health, Policy and Guidance.
‘Payments by Results’, http://www.dh.gov.uk.
30.
FranckeAL. Evaluative research on palliative support teams:
a literature review. Patient Educ Counsel2000; 41:
83–91.
31.
O’NeillWMO’ConnorPLatimerEJ. Hospital care services: three models in three
countries. J Pain Symptom Manag1992; 7:
406–413.
Institute of Medicine.
Health literacy: a prescription to end confusion.
Washington, DC: National
Academies Press, 2004.
34.
StevensonSSinfieldPIonVMerryM. Involving patients to improve service quality in
primary care. Int J Health Care Qual Assur2004; 17:
275–282.
35.
Department of Health.
Strengthening accountability-involving patients and the public:
practice guidance. London:
The Stationery Office,
2003.
36.
Department of Health.
A guide to involving patients and members of the public in
Commissioning. World Class Commissioning, Assurance
Handbook. London:
Department of Health,
2008.
37.
Flood CS. Patient-centred care.
BMJ 2007; http://www.bmj.com (9 July
2007).
38.
SackettDLStraussSEScott RichardsonWRosenbergWHaynesRB. Evidence-Based Medicine: how to practice and teach
EBM, 2nd edn.
Edinburgh: Churchill
Livingstone, 2000.
39.
YinRK. Case study research: design and methods.
Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage, 2003.
40.
WalsheCECaressALChew-GrahamCToddC. Case studies: A research strategy appropriate
for palliative care. Palliat Med2004; 18:
677–684.
