Journal of pain and symptom management
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Accurate documentation of inpatient code status discussions (CSDs) is important because of frequent patient care handoffs. ⋯ Documentation quality of inpatient CSDs was poor. Our findings highlight the need to improve the quality of resident and attending CSD documentation.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Research priorities in spiritual care: an international survey of palliative care researchers and clinicians.
Spiritual distress, including meaninglessness and hopelessness, is common in advanced disease. Spiritual care is a core component of palliative care, yet often neglected by health care professionals owing to the dearth of robust evidence to guide practice. ⋯ In this first international survey exploring researchers' and clinicians' research priorities in spiritual care, we found international support for research in this domain. Findings provide an evidence base to direct future research and highlight the particular need for methodologically rigorous evaluation studies.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Review Meta Analysis Comparative StudyAre there differences in the prevalence of palliative care-related problems in people living with advanced cancer and eight non-cancer conditions? A systematic review.
If access to effective palliative care is to extend beyond cancer patients, an understanding of the comparative prevalence of palliative care problems among cancer and non-cancer patients is necessary. ⋯ There are commonalities in the prevalence of problems across cancer and non-cancer patients, highlighting the need for palliative care to be provided irrespective of diagnosis. The methodological heterogeneity across the studies and the lack of non-cancer studies need to be addressed in future research.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Review Meta AnalysisCancer-related pain and symptoms among nursing home residents: a systematic review.
Many older nursing home (NH) residents with cancer experience pain and distressing symptoms. Although some develop cancer during their time in the institution, an increasing number are admitted during their final stages of their lives. Numerous studies have evaluated various treatment approaches, but how pain and symptoms are assessed and managed in people with cancer with and without dementia is unclear. ⋯ This review clearly reports a high prevalence of pain and reduced drug prescribing and treatment among NH residents with cancer. This issue appears to be most critical among people with severe dementia, emphasizing the need for better guidance and evidence on pain assessment for these individuals.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Multicenter StudyHospices' use of electronic medical records for quality assessment and performance improvement programs.
Electronic medical records (EMRs) are increasingly viewed as essential tools for quality assurance and improvement in many care settings, but little is known about the use of EMRs by hospices in their quality assessment and performance improvement (QAPI) programs. ⋯ Most participating hospices use EMRs for retrieving items needed for QI calculations. EMR-based QIs address various quality domains and themes. Our findings present opportunities for potential future reporting of EMR-based quality data.