Palliative Care Services for Incurable Patients in Selected Countries

Palliative care should be a top priority in public health and disease management programs. This study aimed to compare the palliative care services in selected countries and provide a framework for Iran.

This study was conducted with a descriptive and comparative approach in 2019. Data were collected through literature review of the databases of the relevant organizations in the selected countries.

Findings suggest that the United Kingdom and the United States are leading countries in palliative care and provide comprehensive services to end stage Ill patients. Turkey has also made significant progress in palliative care and has covered a large population in recent years. In Iran, many services required for end stage patients have not yet been implemented or the centers for providing these services are very limited. Experts in palliative care also believe that in Iran, less attention has been paid to the organization of such centers than the United Kingdom, the United States, and Turkey.

Based on the results of this study, it is suggested to benchmark the experiences of leading countries and initiatives and proceedings of the developing countries, considering organizational structure, financing and support services, supervision of services, interdisciplinary teams, patient care need assessment, training and recruitment as a framework for Iran.