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PALLIATIVE CARE ON KANGAROO ISLAND
Author(s) -
Crawford Gregory B
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1584.2000.81230.x
Subject(s) - regret , palliative care , nursing , service (business) , medicine , family medicine , health professionals , geography , health care , business , marketing , machine learning , computer science , economics , economic growth
Kangaroo Island is the third largest island of Australia and the largest island off the coast of South Australia. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted of professional carers and closest caring person of 15 patients who had died of malignant disease between 1994 and 1996. There was a high level of satisfaction with services provided on Kangaroo Island. There was regret about over‐optimistic prognoses being given by specialist medical practitioners and considerable dissatisfaction with the service provided by tertiary hospitals. A divergence in assessment of symptoms was revealed between carers and professionals. There is need for improved training opportunities for community nurses, improved financial support for families dealing with malignancy and a need for more formalised bereavement services.