What Proportion of Terminally Ill and Dying People Require Specialist Palliative Care Services?

Abstract

Currently, around 55 million people die each year worldwide. That number is expected to increase rapidly with accelerating population aging. Despite growth in the number of palliative care specialists and specialist services in most countries, the prospect of an increasing number of terminally ill and dying persons is daunting. This paper attempts to answer the question: what proportion of terminally ill and dying persons require specialist palliative care services? To address this question and highlight which persons require specialist palliative care, the current state of access to specialist palliative care services and specialists in Canada and other countries is highlighted, along with available evidence-based information on specialist services utilization and the care needs of terminally ill and dying persons. Current evidence and information gaps reveal that this question cannot be answered now, but it should be answered in advance of a crisis of unmet end-of-life care needs with the rising death toll.

Assessing system-based trainings for primary care teams and quality-of-life of patients with multimorbidity in Thailand: patient and provider surveys

“…Due to the small size within the category of the terminally ill, the patients who are in dying processes defined as the last minutes or days of life when death is obviously imminent [21], were used as index cases to start with. Then, the patients from other three groups who resided in the same community were selected by simple random sampling, with the number of samples in each group proportional to the size of the corresponding patient group in the community.…”

Effectiveness of virtual teaching programme regarding palliative care on knowledge, self-efficacy and attitude of Nursing Personnel in North India

“…Despite an increase in palliative care practitioners and services in many nations, the likelihood of a rise in the number of terminally ill individuals passing away is concerning. 1 Approximately 40 million people annually require palliative care, with 78 percent residing in low- and middle-income nations. Approximately 14% of those who require palliative care worldwide currently have an access to it.…”