Palliative Care — Effects of a 24/7 Palliative Care Service Integration in a Metropolitan Area on Non-oncologic Patients
Citation(s)
Barbera L, Paszat L, Chartier C Indicators of poor quality end-of-life cancer care in Ontario. J Palliat Care. 2006 Spring;22(1):12-7.
Burge F, Lawson B, Johnston G Family physician continuity of care and emergency department use in end-of-life cancer care. Med Care. 2003 Aug;41(8):992-1001. doi: 10.1097/00005650-200308000-00012.
Thomsen JL, Parner ET Methods for analysing recurrent events in health care data. Examples from admissions in Ebeltoft Health Promotion Project. Fam Pract. 2006 Aug;23(4):407-13. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cml012. Epub 2006 Apr 4.
Effects of a 24/7 Palliative Care Service Integration in a Metropolitan Area on Non-oncologic Patients
Interventional studies are often prospective and are specifically tailored to evaluate direct impacts of treatment or preventive measures on disease.
Observational studies are often retrospective and are used to assess potential causation in exposure-outcome relationships and therefore influence preventive methods.
Expanded access is a means by which manufacturers make investigational new drugs available, under certain circumstances, to treat a patient(s) with a serious disease or condition who cannot participate in a controlled clinical trial.
Clinical trials are conducted in a series of steps, called phases - each phase is designed to answer a separate research question.
Phase 1: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase 2: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase 3: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase 4: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.