Methods for evaluating service delivery models for end of life care (EoLC): development of best practice guidance

人们活得更长了，但不可避免的是，我们所有人都会死去。长寿的一个结果是，我们更有可能在以后的生活中出现症状、身体残疾和疾病。这些问题可能需要治疗和支持吗？有时是几周，有时是一年或更长时间。随着生命末期的临近，这些问题往往会变得更糟。2008年7月，政府发布了《S临终关怀战略》，提出了目前改善护理的方案。但它最大的缺点是缺乏对哪些服务效果最好以及成本是多少的了解。问题是，对服务如何在生命末期为人们发挥作用进行研究是困难的，而且还没有得到充分的发展。该项目通过对临终关怀，特别是服务的最佳做法的研究提供指导，弥补了这一差距。这项研究将进行两年多的时间，汇集了来自4所世界一流大学的专家。他们将寻找、评估和汇集研究经验，并将咨询政策制定者、研究伦理委员会、研究资助者、卫生保健专业人员和患者、亲属和护理人员。对于他们将掌握的特别困难的领域？智囊团？研讨会吸引了顶尖人才，帮助找到最佳解决方案。该项目将提供指导，以最好的方式开展研究，为人们提供临终服务和案例范例，以便我们在未来能够得到最好的护理。

People are living longer but it is inevitable that we will all still die. One result of living longer, is that we are more likely to have symptoms, physical disabilities and illnesses later in life. These problems are likely to need treatment and support ? sometimes for several weeks and sometimes a year or more. The problems often get worse as the very end of life approaches. The government?s End of Life Care Strategy, published in July 2008, sets out a programme to improve care at this time. But its biggest drawback is the lack of knowledge about what services work best and at what cost. The problem is that conducting research into how services work for people at the end of life is difficult and has not been sufficiently developed. This project addresses this gap by producing guidance on the best practices in research into end of life care especially of services. The research will take place over 2 years and brings together experts from 4 world-class universities. They will find, assess and bring together research experiences and will consult with policy makers, research ethics committees, research funders, health care professionals and patients, relatives and carers. For areas of particular difficulty they will hold ?think tank? workshops bringing the top brains to help to find the best solutions. The project will produce guidance on the best ways to undertake research into services for people at the end of life and case examples so that in the future we can have the best in care.