Palliative & supportive care
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Palliat Support Care · Aug 2017
Effect of a spiritual care training program for staff on patient outcomes.
Physicians and nurses do not assess spirituality routinely, even though spiritual care is a vital part of palliative care for patients with an advanced serious illness. The aim of our study was to determine whether a training program for healthcare professionals on spirituality and the taking of a spiritual history would result in improved patient quality of life (QoL) and spiritual well-being. ⋯ A brief spiritual care training program can possibly help bring about enhanced improvement of global patient QoL, but the effect on patients' spiritual well-being was not as evident in our participants. Further study with larger sample sizes is needed to allow for more definite conclusions to be drawn.
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Palliat Support Care · Aug 2017
Palliative care during the final week of life of older people in nursing homes: A register-based study.
Our aim was to explore the presence of symptoms, symptom relief, and other key aspects of palliative care during the final week of life among older people residing in nursing homes. ⋯ There were large variations in degree of relief from different symptoms during the final week of life. Pain was the most prevalent symptom, and it was also the symptom with the highest proportion of total/partial relief. Other symptoms were less prevalent but also less well-relieved. Our results indicate a need for improvement of palliative care in nursing home settings, focusing on management of distressing symptoms and promotion of end-of-life discussions.