Study designs of evaluations included in the review
One randomised controlled trial (RCT), one case series and two before and after studies (one cohort and one retrospective).
Specific interventions included in the review
The stated inclusion criteria were that studies should evaluate palliative care for any disease. The actual interventions included in the review were: introduction of a palliative care registrar to a teaching hospital, hospice care compared to conventional care at a veterans hospital and the establishment of a pain and symptom control team.
Participants included in the review
The stated inclusion criteria were males or females of any age. The participants actually included in the review were inpatients who were dying of cancer or HIV/AIDS [sic[, age range 14 to 92 years.
Outcomes assessed in the review
Outcomes included: morbidity (pain scores, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, anorexia, constipation, dry mouth), anxiety and depression, analgesic prescribing, 'change in insight', appropriate placement, survival, total number of inpatient days, proportion receiving anti- cancer treatment, patient satisfaction, prescription of antiemetics, laxatives and regulan.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The project researcher allocated all titles and abstracts to a research question number, 'irrelevant' or excluded. All those labelled irrelevant or excluded were double checked by another member of the research team. All those allocated to a research question number were then checked by the researcher responsible for that question to determine whether they were relevant to another research question as well.