About the project
Concept
Pal-Cycles refers to a “Flight Cycle” which involves the complete cycle of an airplane from take-off to touchdown. As an analogy, the Pal-Cycles intervention offers to people with advanced cancer and palliative care needs, a transitional palliative care programme from ‘take-off’ from the hospital towards ‘landing’ safely in homecare.
Aims
- To adapt and implement the Pal-Cycles programme in 7 countries.
- To train oncologists, general practitioners, hospital and home care nurses in identifying palliative care needs of people with advanced cancer and their families.
- To establish a comprehensive and collaborative management plan providing patient-centred communication for hospital discharge planning, advanced care planning and end-of-life care.
- To implement a clinical trial using a stepped wedge design in 14 care settings in 6 European countries and United Kingdom.
- To describe the barriers and opportunities of implementing the Pal-Cycles programme.
- To investigate the human and ethical issues surrounding the situation of hospital discharge to home care.
- To disseminate the results of the project in an ongoing and systematic way.
Impact
Pal-Cycles will result in a better access to transitional care for advanced cancer patients and families.
People with advanced cancer will have early and better access to supportive, palliative, survivorship, or end-of-life care services of higher quality and (cost) effectiveness.
Impact on higher quality and (cost)-effective services via research and service development (middle term).
