Author: Susanne Claessen
Date: 28-02-2013
Promotors: Prof. dr. Anneke Francke and Prof. dr. Luc Deliens
SUMMARY OF THE DISSERTATION
In the Netherlands, the government has been actively promoting the development of palliative care since the mid 1990s. Two important policy priorities are (a) more transparency in the quality of palliative care and (b) the promotion of palliative care early in the disease trajectory. These priorities prompted the research presented in this thesis. The development of palliative care in the Netherlands and the government’s incentive policy are described in the General Introduction. This chapter also gives an overview of the two parts of the thesis. The first part addresses research on quality indicators. In this thesis, quality indicators are defined as ‘‘measurable aspects which give an indication of the quality of care, and which concern the structures, processes or outcomes of care’’. Quality indicators are important in current healthcare as a means of generating transparent quality information. The second part concerns research regarding the model of Lynn and Adamson (2003), which describes palliative care as a care continuum that starts early in the course of the disease. According to this model, curative and life-prolonging treatments may be given alongside palliative treatments, with a gradual shift to an emphasis on palliation.
