The systematic early integration of palliative care into multidisciplinary oncology care in the hospital setting (IPAC), a randomized controlled trial : the study protocol

Background: Previous studies in the US and Canada, have shown the positive impact of early palliative care programs for advanced cancer patients on quality of life (QoL) and even survival time. There has been a lack of similar research in Europe. In order to generalize the findings from the US and Canada research on a larger scale, similar studies are needed in different countries with different care settings. The aim of this paper is to describe the research protocol of a randomized controlled trial, situated in Flanders, Belgium, evaluating the effect of systematic early integration of palli... Mehr ...