Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyClinic-based outpatient palliative care before hospice is associated with longer hospice length of service.
Outpatient nonhospice palliative care has been shown to provide many benefits to patients facing advanced illness, but such services remain uncommon in the U.S. Little is known about the association between clinic-based outpatient palliative care consultation and the timing of hospice enrollment. ⋯ Hospice patients who had clinic-based outpatient palliative consults before hospice enrollment tended, on average, to have a longer LOS in hospice than patients who did not.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Observational StudyVariations in vital signs in the last days of life in patients with advanced cancer.
Few studies have examined variation in vital signs in the last days of life. ⋯ Blood pressure and oxygen saturation decreased in the last days of life. Clinicians and families cannot rely on vital sign changes alone to rule in or rule out impending death. Our findings do not support routine vital signs monitoring of patients who are imminently dying.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20 in cancer patients.
Multidimensional questionnaires estimating cancer-related fatigue (CRF) as a symptom cluster or a clinical syndrome primarily have been used and validated in English-speaking populations. However, cultural issues and language peculiarities can affect CRF assessment ⋯ The Polish version of the MFI-20 is well accepted by patients, reliable, and a valid instrument to assess CRF in Polish cancer patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialCan senior volunteers deliver reminiscence and creative activity interventions? Results of the legacy intervention family enactment randomized controlled trial.
Palliative care patients and their family caregivers may have a foreshortened perspective of the time left to live, or the expectation of the patient's death in the near future. Patients and caregivers may report distress in physical, psychological, or existential/spiritual realms. ⋯ Delivery of the intervention by RSVs had a positive impact on palliative care patients' emotional symptoms and burden and caregivers' meaning in life. Meaningful prolonged engagement with palliative care patients and caregivers, possibly through alternative modes of treatment delivery such as continued RSV contact, may be necessary for maintenance of therapeutic effects.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Development and validation of the breakthrough pain assessment tool (BAT) in cancer patients.
The successful management of breakthrough pain depends on a combination of adequate assessment, appropriate (individualized) treatment, and adequate re-assessment. Currently, there is no fully validated clinical assessment tool for breakthrough pain in cancer patients. ⋯ This study provides initial evidence for the validity and reliability of the breakthrough pain assessment tool which may be used to facilitate the management of patients with breakthrough cancer pain in the clinical setting.