New research priorities for surgical palliative care

A national expert panel says the field needs clearer answers on who benefits from surgical palliative care, when to offer it, and what success looks like.

• Twenty-eight experts identified 11 gaps in who receives care, how teams deliver it, and how they measure results.
• Priorities include improving conversations about surgical goals and trade-offs, and sustaining care across different settings.
• The panel also calls for defining core skills and the role of specialist consultation.

This is a consensus research roadmap, not evidence that these approaches improve outcomes.