| OBJECTIVES. To monitor the quality of end-of-life care in the Netherlands via the sentinel network of general practitioners. A systematic and continuous registration of relevant data, followed by retrospective analysis of patients expectations concerning death will provide information on what their recorded desires were and what forms of care they eventually received. Based on this data, quality indicators will be developed to monitor end-of-life care given within and across care settings and patient populations. Problems of patient-transfers, choice of care, type of care, and place of death especially around end-of-life abound, and several patients do not die in places of their choice. However scientific knowledge on this problem, especially on a national scale is lacking. METHODS. A sentinel network, called the Continuous Morbidity Registration (CMR), is used to register morbidity retrospectively. This network coordinates data collection from a representative sample of general practitioners in the Netherlands on a regular basis for a period of two years. Relevant questionnaires have been developed for collection of data on cause of death, frequency of GP-patient contact, transfers, types of care provided, and patient preferences. To better understand and eventually develop quality indicators, interviews will be conducted with some of the GPs. |
