Palliative Care in Older People with Multimorbidities: A Scoping Review on the Palliative Care Needs of Patients, Carers, and Health Professionals

Laura Llop-Medina, Yu Fu, Jorge Garcés-Ferrer and Ascensión Doñate-Martínez
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Laura Llop-Medina: Polibienestar Research Institute, University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Yu Fu: Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle NE2 4AX, UK
Jorge Garcés-Ferrer: Polibienestar Research Institute, University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Ascensión Doñate-Martínez: Polibienestar Research Institute, University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: Although numerous studies have been conducted previously on the needs of cancer patients at the end of their life, there is a lack of studies focused on older patients with non-oncological complex chronic multipathologies. Examining these needs would help to gain a greater understanding of the profile of this specific population within the palliative care (PC) pathway and how the health and care systems can address them. The aim of this review was to identify the needs influencing PC among older patients with multimorbidities, their relatives or informal caregivers, and the health professionals who provide care for these patients. A scoping literature review guided by the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist was carried out with literature searched in the Medline, Embase, CINAHL, WoS, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases from 2009 to 2022. Eighty-one studies were included, demonstrating a great variety of unaddressed needs for PC among chronic older patients and the complexity in detecting those needs and how to refer them to PC pathways. This review also suggested a scarcity of tools and limited pathways for professionals to satisfy their needs for these patients and their families, who often felt ignored by the system. Substantial changes will be needed in health and care systems at the institutional level, providing more specialized PC environments and systematizing PC processes.

Keywords: palliative care needs; older patients; multimorbidities; caregivers; health professionals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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