Referral to specialist palliative care.

ABSTRACT

Recent literature has suggested that earlier referral to palliative care can improve quality of life and prognosis. The decision to refer to palliative care is a complex process that can involve an interplay of interpersonal, subjective and institutional factors. Negotiating this referral process can be challenging to a medical specialist from a professional and personal viewpoint. What remains unknown is what actually influences the individual clinician to refer a patient to palliative care.