Living and Dying Well with Cancer: Succesfully Integrating Palliative Care and Cancer Treatment

Publication Date: April 2003

Publisher: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Author(s): S. Parker; I. Byock; R. Schapiro; J.S. Twohig

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

This monograph from Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care examines the efforts of four programs to integrate palliative care and curative treatment for patients with cancer. These projects were initiated in response to the current state of cancer care that focuses exclusively on efforts to cure disease until options are exhausted and then transitions to hospice care, rather than integrating both curative and palliative care into one integrated treatment plan. The programs include: Ireland Cancer Center's Project Safe Conduct, University of California Davis' Simultaneous Care Project; University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center Palliative Care Program; and Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center's Project ENABLE.

Key Findings:

* It is feasible and desirable to create a system of integrated curative and palliative treatment for all cancer patients. The programs confirmed that the traditional choice between treatment of cancer and palliative care is unnecessary, harmful and arbitrary.
* Regulatory and reimbursement systems must evolve to encourage the new, integrated treatment structure to become the standard of high-quality care for cancer patients.
* The commitment of leading cancer organizations such as the National Cancer Institute is crucial to providing hospitals and medical providers with the services and training necessary to implement integrated care plans on a national scale.