Current opinion in supportive and palliative care
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Curr Opin Support Palliat Care · Dec 2018
ReviewBenzodiazepines for agitation in patients with delirium: selecting the right patient, right time, and right indication.
To provide an evidence-based synopsis on the role of benzodiazepines in patients with agitated delirium. ⋯ Benzodiazepines are powerful medications associated with considerable risks and benefits. Clinicians may prescribe benzodiazepines skillfully by selecting the right medication at the right dose for the right indication to the right patient at the right time.
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Compassion has been recognized as a key aspect of high-quality healthcare, particularly in palliative care. This article provides a general review of the current understanding of compassion in palliative care and summarizes emergent compassionate initiatives in palliative care at three interdependent levels: compassion for patients, compassion in healthcare professionals, and compassionate communities at the end of life. ⋯ Compassion can be enhanced through diverse methodologies at the organizational, professional, and community levels. This enhancement of compassion has the potential to improve quality of palliative care treatments, enhance healthcare providers' satisfaction, and reduce healthcare costs.
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Curr Opin Support Palliat Care · Dec 2018
ReviewHemato-oncology and palliative care teams: is it time for an integrated approach to patient care?
Integrated palliative care for those with advanced solid tumors yields significant benefits in patient and caregiver outcomes. However, most palliative care clinical trials have excluded patients with hematologic malignancies. There is growing interest in whether integrated palliative care may yield similar benefits in hematologic malignancy patients and caregivers, but there has been little direct evidence of benefit in this population. This review summarizes new data on palliative care issues in hematologic malignancies, published in the preceding 12 months. ⋯ Recent evidence confirms that hematologic malignancy patients have unique and often unmet palliative care needs, and also have worse end-of-life outcomes. More work is needed to develop and test integrated palliative care interventions in this population.