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Background: As modern medicine extends the life expectancy of patients with life-limiting illnesses and health system resource pressures intensify, palliative care physicians increasingly need to transfer stable patients from specialist palliative care units to nursing homes. The experience of palliative care physicians in decision-making and communicating with patients and families about the need for this transition is underexplored in the literature. Aim: This study aimed to explore the experiences of and communication techniques used by palliative care physicians as they consider and discuss nursing home placements for their patients. Design: A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was used. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Setting/participants: Purposive sampling was used to recruit 18 Australian palliative care physicians known for their interest or strength in communication skills across a range of palliative care settings. Results: Themes emerged from domains of physician experience (abandonment, systemic pressures, prognostic uncertainty, exacerbation of loss, and restoring resilience) and communication strategies (forecasting, checking in, provide context, and acknowledging grief). Conclusion: This study highlights the tension Australian palliative care physicians experience when transferring palliative care patients to nursing home and the complexity involved in decision-making. Physicians identified several communication strategies to engage patients and families to ease the transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New mothers and their infants are high frequency users of primary health care services in Australia providing opportunities for GPs to engage with women about common postnatal morbidities. This study aimed to explore women's views of GP care in the first year following birth. We used semistructured interviews with a subsample of women who had participated in a population-based survey of women who gave birth in two Australian states (Victoria and South Australia) in 2007. Twenty-nine women were interviewed. Prominent themes that emerged were around issues of disclosure, including women's views on ways practitioner interactions and systems of care facilitate or hinder disclosure and subsequent discussion of health problems. Women reflected on the role GPs played in their health and wellbeing after childbirth, the importance of enquiry, communication style and the way access to, and time in, consultations impact on disclosure, perceived support and discussions. To improve care for women after childbirth we need to know the contexts that facilitate disclosure. Findings from this qualitative study deliver an important message to clinicians: women value primary care, identify issues that facilitate and hinder disclosure and describe 'good' encounters as ones where they feel understood, supported and reassured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]