Barriers to perioperative palliative care across Veterans Health Administration hospitals: A qualitative evaluation

Background

Palliative care remains widely underused for surgical patients, despite a clear benefit for patients with life-limiting illness or nearing the end-of-life.

Methods

Interviews exploring end-of-life care among critically-ill surgical patients were conducted with providers from 14 pre-specified Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. Data were analyzed iteratively through steps informed by inductive and deductive descriptive content analysis.

Results

Six major domains were identified. At the patient and family level, barriers included managing expectations and goal-discordant care. At the provider-level, knowledge of and attitudes towards palliative care and provider role and identity were frequently cited barriers. At the system-level, participants identified institutional resources and culture as significant barriers.

Conclusions

While providers recognize the importance of palliative care and end-of-life care, obstacles to its use exist at various levels. Identification of these barriers highlights areas to focus future efforts to improve the quality of palliative and end-of-life care for Veterans.