Table 1 Understanding of Generalist and Specialist Palliative Care

In Denmark, the World Health Organization’ definition of palliative care is used by the Danish Health Authority. Its is an approach that “improves the quality of life of patients and their ffamilies facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness...”. It must “be available in all care settings for patients with moderate to high complexity of need, and is provided by health and social professionals who specialise in palliative care and work within a multi-professional specialist palliative care team” [6].

Specialist palliative care differs from generalist palliative care that is provided for patients and their families with low to moderate complexity of palliative care need. Generalist palliative care is defined as “care provided to those affected by life-threatening as an integral part of standard clinical practice provided by any healthcare professional who is not part of a specialist palliative care team” [6].