Identifying People in Need of Palliative Care Services in Rural Tamil Nadu: A Survey

BACKGROUND: As a part of initiating community-based palliative care program in the field practice areas of Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC), Villupuram, it was necessary for us to identify people who need palliative care to plan our services. AIM: This study aims to assess the need for palliative care and its determinants in the villages under the UHTC, Villupuram, and to know their sociodemographic characteristics and morbidity profile. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in the four villages under UHTC between April and September 2016. A house-to-house survey was conducted by a trained team using a structured questionnaire. The available member of the households was interviewed about the need for palliative care and the morbidity profile among all the members of their household. Written informed consent was obtained before the interview. Data were entered and analyzed using EpiInfo (version 7.2.2.6) software. Prevalence ratio, age- and gender-wise prevalence of people in need of palliative care was calculated. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of people in need of palliative care was found to be 4.5/1000 population (95% confidence interval: 3.2–6.3). Among them, 73.5% were elderly people. The most common condition requiring palliative care was old age-related weakness (41.2%). CONCLUSION: The need for palliative care services among elderly people was found to be high. This data can be used for planning and implementing community-based palliative care services for the people in our field practice areas.