Don’t transfer a palliative patient to a facility far from their friends and family without considering if their goals of care can be achieved locally.

Advanced care planning is an important part of primary care to establish individual patient’s goals of care. This is especially true for rural patients who may need to be transferred to an alternate community for care.

Studies have shown that rural patients prefer to die in their home communities. It is important to consider the patient’s goals when contemplating sending them away from the community for medical treatment at the end of life. If the patient is transferred to an alternate community, ensure an updated, written advanced directive accompanies them to the receiving community.
For more information:
Wilson DM, Fillion L, Thomas R, Justice C, Bhardwaj PP, Veillette AM. The “good” rural death: a report of an ethnographic study in Alberta, Canada. J Palliat Care. 2009;25(1):21-29. PMID: 19445339.

Government of Alberta. Advance Care Planning and Goals of Care Designations. 2018.