End-of-life care
The End-of-Life Care Research Group of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium (Head Prof Dr Luc Deliens) has two interrelated research lines, namely palliative care and medical end-of-life decision making. See keywords in right pane.

Background of the research
In developed countries, important transitions in demography, morbidity and mortality have taken place, and led to aging societies. Acute death due to infectious disease has to a great extent been replaced by diseases that often involve a more protracted dying process, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. As a consequence, end-of-life care will increasingly become a new public health priority, and good care for the terminally ill a growing challenge for medicine and the health care providers.
Advances in medicine have greatly improved the possibilities of treating seriously ill patients and prolonging life. However, it is increasingly recognised that prolonging life might not always be an appropriate goal of medicine and that other goals have to guide medical decision-making at the end of life, such as improving the quality of life of patients and their families through the prevention and relief of suffering. In some cases, end-of-life care involves medical decisions in which hastening of death may be an accepted or, by some, even a welcome consequence of end-of-life care.

End-of-Life Care Research Group, Brussels, Belgium
The End-of-Life Care Research Group is part of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels - Jette, Belgium. The multidisciplinary group consists of about twentyfive researchers, most full time and some part time, and is composed of sociologists, psychologists, health scientists, gerontologists, physicians, nurses, etc. Most research can be characterised as public health research, health services research or clinical research. In most of the current studies, the research group is collaborating with other research groups and institutes, both within and beyond the university. Furthermore, the research group also has intensive international collaborations, mainly with research groups in Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA.

A flyer with key information on the End-of-life Care Research Group is available:

click here