Purpose of review Despite the historical international development of palliative care over the last 50 years, provision of equity of care and access to appropriate medication remains a major problem in many countries across the world. Interest in the public health approach to end-of-life care has grown over the last 20 years. Models of palliative care, which are affordable and provide equity of care are changing through these new concepts. We describe an existing model of practice in a primary care setting in Rio Grande in Brazil, which could act as a template for redesign of palliative care services. Recent findings Traditional models of palliative care have focussed on the physical, social, psychological and spiritual domains. Abel and Kellehear have proposed a new model, uniting specialist and generalist palliative care with compassionate communities and the civic component encapsulated in the compassionate city charter. This model is more comprehensive, emphasizing both harm reduction and health and well being promotion, and is currently being rolled out within the Family Health Strategy in Rio Grande in Brazil. Summary An existing model of palliative care, which includes the public health approach in Rio Grande be used as a basis for more equitable palliative care in Brazil, to meet a large unmet need.

This project seeks to provide a proposal for palliative care offered through primary care in a public health service which does not exist in Brazil.

Identificando pacientes para cuidados paliativos na atenção primária no Brasil: experiência do Projeto Estar ao Seu Lado Objetivo: Apresentar o processo de identificação de pacientes de cuidados paliativos em uma equipe de Estratégia de Saúde da Família no Brasil. Métodos: O processo de identificação ocorreu 1) utilizando o sistema de trabalho de uma Equipe de Estratégia de Saúde da Família e os princípios da atenção primária e 2) aplicando o SPICT, uma ferramenta para ajudar a identificar pacientes que poderiam se beneficiar com cuidados paliativos. Resultados: Vinte e três pacientes foram inscritos no programa de cuidados paliativos no início do projeto. Ao final do período de 12 meses, identificamos 38 pacientes. Seis pacientes morreram durante o período. Assim, durante 2015, 38 pessoas foram identificadas com necessidades paliativas de uma população total de 3.000 (1,2% da população de prática). Destes, 58% (n=22) foram mulheres, 63% (n=24) com mais de 65 anos, 74,7% (n=28) relataram etnia branca. Os diagnósticos principais mais frequentes foram câncer (39,5%), doença psiquiátrica (18,4%), doença cardiovascular (15,8%), fraqueza (10,5%), demência (10,5%) e doença respiratória (7,9%). A multimorbidade foi maior em pacientes com mais de 65 anos (t-test, p=0,009) com uma mediana de quatro doenças. As patologias mais prevalentes entre os que sofrem de multimorbilidade foram doença cardiovascular (73,7%), doença psiquiátrica (65,8%), câncer (50%), fragilidade (39,5%), diabetes mellitus (31,6%) e doenças respiratórias (23,7%). Conclusão: Aplicamos uma ferramenta para identificar e gerenciar pacientes que se beneficiariam dos cuidados paliativos na atenção primária em Rio Grande. Sua aplicação é prática e viável. Seu aperfeiçoamento, implementação e avaliação no Brasil é indicado nos centros comunitários de Estratégia de Saúde da Família, levando em conta especificamente fatores sociais e econômicos desse país. Identificando pacientes para cuidados paliativos en atención primaria en Brasil: la experiencia del Proyecto Estar ao Seu LadoObjective: To present the process of identification of palliative care patients in a Family Health Strategy´s team in Brazil. Methods: The identification process ocurred 1) using the system of work of a Family Health Strategy Team and the principles of primary care and 2) by applying the SPICT, a tool to help identify patients who might benefit with palliative care. Results: Twenty-three patients were enrolled in the palliative care program at the beginning of the project. By the end of the 12 month period, we had identified 38 patients. Six patients died during the time period. Thus during 2015, 38 people were identified with palliative needs from a total population of 3,000 (1.2% of the practice population). Of these 58% (n=22) were women, 63% (n=24) over 65 years, 74.7% (n=28) reported white ethnicity. The most frequent major diagnoses were cancer (39.5%), psychiatric disease (18.4%), cardiovascular disease (15.8%), frailty (10.5%), dementia (10.5%), and respiratory disease (7.9%)...

Brazil has 206 million people, and 1.2 million deaths and 600,000 new cases of cancer per year. Palliative Care services are patchily distributed. The Family Health Strategy, made up from 41,000 primary care teams across Brazil forms a comprehensive primary care network. The Project EstaraoSeuLado-Primary Palliative Care developed working from Community Centers. We created a model based on compassionate communities, with community carers working alongside primary care teams. We identified people who need palliative care, gave them specific care and enrolled their carers into a program of monthly meetings called "Comunidade Cuidador". We discussed caring at end of life and provided skills training. During 2015 we ran 8 training programmes with an average of 10 carers. The major themes of discussion were carer burnout, dealing with denial and skills needed daily. The effect of these meetings was better relations between carers and professionals with expansion of the naturally occurring supportive network. The results of this project have been remarkable. The joint working of professionals and supportive networks together is recognised as being transformational. Carers themselves spread this approach by recommending it to others they know with life limiting illness. We will discuss the model and how it can be replicated more broadly across Brazil. Family Health teams can use tools of identification, evaluation and assessment working with networks including the community as an important part. We will propose a new model of End-of-Life Care to be adopted as national policy. We have implemented a compassionate community programme in the area of Rio Grande in Brazil. This has been a combination of primary care working in harmony with communities, providing education, resources and training to enhance the skill of communities to care for their dying. This is a necessary solution for Brazil, where resources and access to healthcare is limited. Our model is successful and increasing. We propose wider adoption of this model across Brazil and will present figures on the size of the challenge we face.

No abstract