Health services research in the last year of life

This memorandum outlines current issues concerning health services research on seriously ill and dying people in the last year of their lives as well as support available for their relatives. Patients in the last phase of life can belong to different disease groups, they may have special characteristics (e. g., people with cognitive and complex impairments, economic disadvantage or migration background) and be in certain phases of life (e. g., parents of minor children, (old) age). The need for a designated memorandum on health services research in the last year of life results from the special situation of those affected and from the special features of health services in this phase of life. With reference to these special features, this memorandum describes methodological and ethical specifics as well as current issues in health services research and how these can be adequately addressed using quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. It has been developed by the palliative medicine section of the German Network for Health Services Research (DNVF) according to the guidelines for DNVF memoranda.