ABSTRACT
Palliative care is an integral part of the care provided by GPs and other primary health care providers, and as Australia's population ages and the palliative care needs of patients with end stage organ failure are recognised, this area of care is likely to increase. Using a knowledge translation framework, two strategies have been used to develop resources to support those providing palliative care in the community. PubMed searches on a range of common palliative care topics and incorporating a palliative care filter provide an easy and validated mechanism to retrieve relevant literature. A 'GP Hub' offers knowledge, skills and practical advice for GPs who provide palliative care in the community. Both resources are freely available within the CareSearch website, ensuring immediate access to palliative care information and evidence when it is needed.
Subject(s)
Databases, Bibliographic , Evidence-Based Medicine , Palliative Care , Primary Health Care , Australia , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Health Services Needs and Demand , Humans , PubMedABSTRACT
Palliative care is an increasingly important area of clinical practice and health service delivery. The heterogeneity of the patient population and the multidisciplinary nature of care draw on knowledge from many fields of clinical practice and academic enquiry. This has implications for the retrieval of evidence and literature and the spread of new knowledge in palliative care. This study shows that the CINAHL, Embase and PsycINFO bibliographic databases hold sizeable repositories of palliative care articles not indexed on Medline. It also highlights the number and range of journals publishing palliative care content. In 2005 alone, 1985 journals published 6983 items. These findings show the challenges for palliative care professionals in managing the complex evidence base for this diverse field of care and the importance of mechanisms that facilitate the identification of palliative care information. Dissemination strategies that ensure that new knowledge reaches the many audiences implicit in the range of journals publishing palliative care are also critical in supporting improvements in clinical practice and service delivery.
