About this Research Topic
The World Health Organization defines palliative care as “an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.” The goal of palliative care is to prevent and relieve suffering, and to support the best possible quality of life for patients and their families, regardless of the stage of the disease or the need for other therapies. Whilst a medical specialty in its own right, awareness and training in the principles and practices of palliative care is a requirement for all health professionals and paraprofessionals. Palliative care, including access to essential medicines, has recently been determined as a population health need and an integral part of universal healthcare delivery.
This Research Topic welcomes studies that advance science, knowledge and theory about best strategies and practices for delivering digital health in the palliative care domain. Such practices include but are not limited to new, improved or specifically adapted digital interventions to relieve symptoms and suffering caused by life-threatening diseases, or serious late and long-term side effects of disease treatments in patients and survivors, or symptoms that occur at the end of life. Digital solutions may encompass mobile applications, health portals, electronic medical records, patient healthcare records, self-monitoring digital tools or any other digital delivery communication intervention solution that could be adopted for palliative care.
The Topic Editors are particularly interested in digital solution that can (i) improve quality, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of palliative care services as well as access to care, (ii) reduce symptom burden and suffering (iii) improve well-being of patients in need of palliative care and their formal and informal caregivers, (iv) reduce economic and wider societal burden arising from increased numbers of patients in need of palliative care, (v) improve clinical guidelines and policy recommendations with respect to pain management, palliative care of patients with life-threatening diseases.
Possible contributions to this Research Topic may address (but are not limited to):
• Data handling and analysis for enhanced prognostication in palliative care
• Wearable and implantable diagnostic devices for palliative care
• Home-based diagnostic systems for palliative care
• Artificial intelligence in palliative care
• Non-intrusive systems and Internet of Things (IoT) for patient data collection (e.g. vital signs)
• Systematic reviews
• Meta-analytic reviews
This Research Topic welcomes studies that advance science, knowledge and theory about best strategies and practices for delivering digital health in the palliative care domain. Such practices include but are not limited to new, improved or specifically adapted digital interventions to relieve symptoms and suffering caused by life-threatening diseases, or serious late and long-term side effects of disease treatments in patients and survivors, or symptoms that occur at the end of life. Digital solutions may encompass mobile applications, health portals, electronic medical records, patient healthcare records, self-monitoring digital tools or any other digital delivery communication intervention solution that could be adopted for palliative care.
The Topic Editors are particularly interested in digital solution that can (i) improve quality, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of palliative care services as well as access to care, (ii) reduce symptom burden and suffering (iii) improve well-being of patients in need of palliative care and their formal and informal caregivers, (iv) reduce economic and wider societal burden arising from increased numbers of patients in need of palliative care, (v) improve clinical guidelines and policy recommendations with respect to pain management, palliative care of patients with life-threatening diseases.
Possible contributions to this Research Topic may address (but are not limited to):
• Data handling and analysis for enhanced prognostication in palliative care
• Wearable and implantable diagnostic devices for palliative care
• Home-based diagnostic systems for palliative care
• Artificial intelligence in palliative care
• Non-intrusive systems and Internet of Things (IoT) for patient data collection (e.g. vital signs)
• Systematic reviews
• Meta-analytic reviews
Keywords: palliative care, quality of life, mHealth, eHealth, personal healthcare record, digital health
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
