Assistive technology in palliative medicine: equipment needs

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Most people prefer to die at home. Timely and appropriate provision of assistive technology can support people to remain at home in the palliative phase. A state-wide palliative care equipment programme (PCEP) was established in Queensland, Australia, to support coordinated assistive technology provision. The objective of this study was to identify population-wide palliative care equipment needs and their relationship to primary diagnostic categories. METHOD: A retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of equipment provided over a 19-month period was conducted. This included types of equipment provided and characteristics of the participants such as rurality, age and diagnostic category. RESULTS: There were 13 764 approved equipment requests, with a median time between equipment application and death being around 35 days. There were significant differences in the types of equipment typically required across diagnostic categories. CONCLUSION: The findings from the study can provide a benchmark for the development of population-wide PCEPs. For practitioners who are new to palliative care, typical trajectories of equipment needs by diagnostic group can help guide equipment planning.