The Palliative Care Unit develops and evaluates interventions for patients with life-threatening diseases across disciplines and sectors. The Palliative Care Unit focuses on application-centered research and patient- and caregiver involvement. Research projects in the Palliative Care Unit involves one or more of the following themes.

Integrated palliative care

Many contacts with different healthcare professionals and departments can be experienced as a burden in addition to the life-threatening illness. Therefore, models of integration between the Palliative Care Unit and other departments, municipalities and general practice are developed and evaluated, including telehealth solutions.

Needs assessment

Access to specialized palliative care must be based on patients' needs rather than diagnosis. Therefore, methods for timely detection of patients who may benefit from specialized palliative care are developed and evaluated. These methods can make use of patient-reported outcomes, information from medical records, healthcare professionals' assessment, and algorithms to predict future symptoms and needs.

Symptom relief

Patients in specialized palliative care often experience multiple interacting symptoms and problems. Therefore, methods for symptom management are developed and evaluated, including monitoring of biological pain signals, management of delirium and patients' benefit from specialized palliative care.

Contact: Kirstine Skov Benthien, Ph.d., kirstine.skov.benthien@regionh.dk