Quality Healthcare at the End of Life
A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 2882
Special Issue Editors
Interests: palliative care; public health palliative care; community care; intersectionality; education in end-of-life care; citizen science
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Palliative care is a crucial part of integrated, people-centered health services. It aims to relieve the suffering of patients due to life-threatening illness, whether physical, psychological, social or spiritual. Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients, as well as their informal caregivers. Each year, an estimated 56.8 million people, including 25.7 million in the last year of life, are in need of palliative care worldwide; however, only 14% currently receive it. There are several reasons for this: lack of awareness about what it is and what benefits it might offer, misconceptions about palliative care (such as that it is only for patients with cancer, or for the last weeks of life) and cultural and social barriers. Even in countries where the general level of palliative care is high, we often see that there is no equal access for all who need it. For example, people with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health problems and people with an LGBTQIA+ background experience inequalities. Furthermore, due to new treatment modalities, the course of diseases, e.g., in the case of some cancers, is changing. This leads to new thoughts about palliative care.
The state of the art, as well as the need for (further) development in this rather young field relating clinical, research and policy aspects, is broad across countries. Considering the number of people who are in need of palliative care accompanied by this variety and inequalities, it is crucial that we share information, learn from each other and are able to contribute to the improvement of this area.
A public health approach to end-of-life care, viewing the community as an equal partner in providing quality healthcare at the end of life, is increasingly seen as necessary and helpful in the abovementioned challenges.
Therefore, we are pleased to invite you to share your research in palliative care with us regarding accessibility, equity and diversity, and awareness and public health.
In this Special Issue, we welcome original studies, qualitative, as well quantitative and mixed methods and (all kinds of) reviews.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Marieke M. Groot
Dr. Corine Nierop-van Baalen
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- palliative care
- public health palliative care
- community care
- intersectionality
- education in end-of-life care
- living with cancer
- awareness
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
