Mobile palliative-care teams, a practice requiring certain conditions

Aim: Our aim was to illustrate how qualitative research on the practice and organization of care indicates that palliative care performed by a mobile hospital unit requires certain conditions. Stated otherwise, our objective was to show how professional practice varies with each specific work context. Method: In this article, we present the mixed results of an analysis of interventions from an observational study of a mobile team in a university hospital. Results: A number of working conditions appear to help structure a mobile palliative-care team: how palliative care is viewed by hospital services, reciprocal knowledge among healthcare professionals, the patient’s disorder and its outcome, the clinical symptoms encountered, an interruption or the continuation of treatment, problems confronted by the team and how they were resolved, the physician’s attitude toward the patient’s close family and friends and their reactions, the duration of the terminal disease-phase, whether or not the mobile team was able to accompany the patient’s family and finally, the time-relationship involved for certain protagonists. Conclusion: In addition to the clinical problem itself, medical practice also depends on how work is organized and how healthcare professionals view medical care in general. The complexity of medical practices opens new horizons for qualitative and contextual research studies on the practice and organization of healthcare.