usefulness of a medical transmissions sheet through the organization of primary care for palliative care patients

Abstract

Following palliative care – mostly terminally ill – patients requires knowing precisely patient’s wishes. Although palliative care has been developing for twenty years in France, there was not currently a standardized medical record transmission. To address this issue, we conducted a descriptive analytical study questionnaire asking Mayenne (France, Northwest) GP’s about their need of a medical transmissions sheet – entitled «SAMU Urgences Pallia 53» – for palliative care patients. Nearly all physicians declare this sheet as important and useful. More than eighty percent of doctors who had received limited information asked to receive more elements about this form. The low response rate does not allow to draw conclusions about medical practice of GPs but provides useful elements in a field largely unexplored. The positive results at one year of implementation in Mayenne of the form «SAMU Urgence Pallia 53» led to the current development of a similar questionnaire in the neighboring department of Maine et Loire.