People who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are a unique subgroup of patients that may or may not benefit from palliative care. However, there has not been evidence to show what the standard of care should be. This paper is a systematic review of available literature to review the effectiveness of palliative care for people with COPD. The results of the study were largely inconclusive with most interventions focusing on coordination of care. The feasibility of such interventions really depended individually. The biggest barrier identified was accessibility and the unpredictable nature of the disease. For future research in this field there needs to be controlled effectiveness studies with sufficient power in order to find more conclusive results.
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