What do doctors do in a palliative care unit? Descriptive study of medical practice in a palliative care unit in France

French palliative care units can accommodate terminally ill patients, but also patients who still benefit from specific treatment that can stabilize the disease in the long term. However, we do not know how these palliative care, which coexist with specific treatments of the pathology and can stabilize the disease in the more or less long term, are practiced by the doctors who work in these units of hospitalization. We conducted a qualitative study with medical and paramedical professionals from a French USP to describe the medical practice in palliative care unit. Four focus-groups were conducted with 3 medical professionals and 4 with 11 paramedical professionals. Reflective and analytical skills dominated the interviewees' discourse. If uncertainty was not specifically named in our study, it was present in every gesture or behavior aimed at understanding the singularity of the patient. This original study contributes to understanding how palliative care is implemented in a situation of medical uncertainty. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.