Patient-centered care
death
SAID
Both groups expected a more holistic, continuous approach for patients, allowing for quicker and easier patient transfer concurrently respecting patients’ wishes to stay in one location. This would close existing gaps of care, in particular with respect to budgeting for medical doctors not having to write referrals and patients not having to worry about being admitted to a hospice.And that is a holistic approach, to say that the combination of palliative medicine and hospice allow for a qualitative improvement at the end of life, I think that is extremely important for patients and their relatives because it is stressing them out, once they have gotten used to the concept of palliative care having to leave and where to receive hospice care. (clinical staff, 11)Volunteers also stated that optimal and expeditious medical care for all patients is imperative. However, clinical staff worried that the ease of transfer might be moving too fast towards death for patients. Their main concern was to separate staff and rooms so patients would understand whether they are palliative care patients or residents of a hospice.Let's assume that we refer a patient from another department to the palliative care ward (…) if it were not spatially separate from the hospice, then I wonder whether that patient understands (…), feels, sees that this [hospice] is yet another place. (clinical staff, 12)Volunteers further felt that human rights and principles have to be guaranteed. Hospice residents, just like any palliative care and other patients, must be given the chance to die in dignity and peace, with professional support and the greatest possible self-determination. Aspects of humanity and spirituality were emphasized as framework conditions.Humanity should really be the highest priority, humanity and real dignity, which is being said over and over again, yes, one should - everyone wishes to die in dignity. (volunteer, 15)For supporting quotes please see supplemental file 