Development, implementation and evaluation of an intervention supporting mobile palliative supportteams to empower healthcare professionals in providing palliative care for hospitalized patients

According to the Palliative Care Indicator Tool (PICT), a practical measurement tool for early identification of palliative patients, 19% of patients hospitalized on non-specialized hospital wards are palliative. Additionally, societal changes such as an aging population, an increase in the number of chronically ill people and evolving technologies are predicted to further increase the need for palliative care in the upcoming years. These numbers emphasize the importance of hospital-wide commitment towards qualitative palliative care. In Belgian hospitals, it are the mobile multidisciplinary palliative support teams (PSTs) that provide expert advice to care teams, with often little experience, knowledge and competencies in palliative care.  PSTs do not only provide advice, but also support and motivate healthcare workers to develop a positive palliative care culture within their discipline or ward. The goal of this PhD is to develop, implement and evaluate an intervention that supports PSTs in empowering care teams hospital-wide in providing qualitative palliative care for hospitalized patients.