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The impact of different models of specialist palliative care on patients' quality of life: a systematic literature review

N Bosanquet

E K Wilkinson

Department of Primary Health Care, Imperial College School of Medicine at St Mary's, London

P J Franks

Centre for Research and Implementation of Clinical Practice, Thames Valley University, London

S Kite

Palliative Care Team, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London

M Lorentzon

A Naysmith

This study set out to systematically review the research evidence about the impact of alternative models of specialist palliative care on the quality of life of patients. Eighty-six relevant papers were identified and reviewed, including 22 descriptive and 27 comparative studies. We found few comparative trials of reasonable quality. There was some evidence that in-patient palliative care provided better pain control than home care or conventional hospital care, but this research was dated and open to criticism. Research on palliative home care teams and co-ordinating nurses has demonstrated limited impact on quality of life over conventional care for patients dying at home. These negative findings may be due to the limitations of the assessment tools used. There is a need for larger studies to provide clear evidence as to whether specialist palliative care services provide improvements in patients' quality of life. This review does not exclude the possibility that models of care might be justifiable on other grounds such as patient preference or cost-effectiveness.

Key Words: palliative care • quality of life • review literature

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 13, No. 1, 3-17 (1999)
DOI: 10.1191/026921699677461429


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