Research evidence can inform direct patient care, its delivery and organisation. As a multidisciplinary field, there are many different types of questions that need to be investigated in palliative care. For example, what is the prevalence of nausea in palliative care settings? Does this drug reduce pain in the aged with cancer? Does bereavement counselling improve grief outcomes?

Improving outcomes in palliative care will draw upon evidence relating to therapeutic interventions and care processes. There are specific issues that need to be considered when designing and running research with palliative care populations to develop this evidence. It is important that researchers use the appropriate study design to answer different types of questions. 

A number of issues are explored in this section including funding sources, design and conduct of research studies, issues in multi-site trials, regulations and disseminating findings and their implications.