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Project

International place of death study (FWOKN240)

Demographic and cultural changes will increasingly confront health care systems with the care needs of dying people. According to the WHO, the delivery of appropriate palliative care has grown into a major public health issue. Regardless the aspiration of many to die at home, in Belgium, a majority of patients die in hospital and many are, often unnecessarily, transferred to hospital near the end of life. More systematic knowledge regarding place of death and end-of-life hospitalization is needed to develop adequate end-of-life policies. The study has two principal aims:
1) To study cross-national differences in place of death and factors influencing place of death;
2) To study and define unnecessary and avoidable hospitalizations at the end of life;

data collection :
1) An international Place of Death study based on nationwide death certificate data from different European and non-European countries.
Date:1 Jan 2012 →  31 Dec 2012
Keywords:Medical Sociology
Disciplines:Sociology and anthropology