Palliative care and primary health care: scoping review

Abstract

The ageing population has increased the incidence of chronic health conditions, requiring the inclusion of different levels of palliative care (PC) in different parts of the health system, including the Primary Health Care (PHC). This new reality might interfere with the ethical issues of PHC. This research aimed to identify, from the point of view of health professionals, the ethical problems which arise from the palliative care in PHC. We carried out a systematic review in PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS, CINAHL, using the descriptors ‘ethics’, ‘bioethic’s, ‘Primary Health Care’ and ‘Palliative Care’. We found 3,915 articles of which 16 remained after analyses. The ethical problems found were: lack of resources; lack of knowledge about palliative care; lack of communication skills; difficulty in establishing limits in clinical relationship; work overload; lack of support from referral services. These problems, in general are similar to those experienced in the PHC but with differences in specific situations. The incorporation of palliative care to the Primary Health Care specific guidelines and training as well as the custom of shared and co-responsible care.

Palliative Care; Chronic Disease; Primary Health Care; End-of-life; Bioethics; Ethics