Metrics details. Continuity of palliative care contributes to a decline in emergency room visits. Despite efforts made to develop the palliative care guideline in Ethiopia, the service is not yet organized and linked to primary health care.
This study aimed to explore barriers to the continuum of palliative care from facility to household for cancer patients in Addis Ababa. Qualitative exploratory study was conducted with face-to-face interviews with a total of 25 participants. The study population was adult cancer patients, primary caregivers, healthcare providers, volunteers, and nationwide advocates.
Data were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and finally imported to Open code version 4. The key barriers to continuity of palliative care included opioid scarcity and turnover and shortage of healthcare workers. Lack of community volunteers, failure of health extension workers to link patients, and spatial limits fraught utilization. The lack of defined roles and services at several levels and the workload on healthcare professionals affected the effectiveness of the nexus. The continuum of palliative care service from health facility to household in Ethiopia is yet in its infancy compromised by factors related to availability, accessibility, acceptability, utilization, and effectiveness.
Further research is required to delineate the roles of various actors; the health sector should smudge out the continuum of palliation to cope with the growing need for palliative care.
Peer Review reports. Cancer is an important clinical and public health problem worldwide. In , The World Health Organization WHO defines Palliative Care PC as an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illnesses, through the prevention and relief of suffering through early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, both physical, psychosocial and spiritual [ 4 ].
