Paliative care: a market niche for nonprofit organizations in Croatia

Abstract

Palliative care is meant to provide the highest possible quality of life to terminally ill people. The importance of palliative care is globally growing due to long term demographic, economic, social and technology trends. There is, however an increasing gap between available service and identified needs in many countries, including Croatia. Palliative care in Croatia, although well legally regulated, is limited with insufficient financial resources within the public health care system. The aim of this paper is to analyze the implementation of marketing concept and strategy in nonprofit organizations dealing with palliative care. Qualitative research has implicated that such an approach can contribute to better organizational performance. Research methodology consisted in a literature analysis and the application of a questionnaire in some Croatian social enterprises.

Keywords

• palliative care
• nonprofit organizations
• marketing
• Croatia