Journal of pain and symptom management
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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
Controlled Clinical TrialBreathlessness, functional status, distress, and palliative care needs over time in patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or lung cancer: a cohort study.
Breathlessness is a distressing symptom in advanced disease. Understanding its patterns, burden, and palliative care (PC) needs over time is important to improve patients' quality of life. ⋯ The PC needs of patients with advanced COPD are comparable with LC patients, and breathlessness severity and distress are even higher. The care for COPD patients requires further improvement to address symptom burden and PC needs.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Observational StudySubcutaneous administration of drugs in palliative care: results of a systematic observational study.
Especially in palliative care, safe and manageable administration of medication is essential. Subcutaneous drug administration is a possible alternative, when oral intake is hampered. However, evidence for this method is rare. ⋯ The results of this study acknowledge the clinical practice of subcutaneous administration of medication as a very flexible, broadly feasible, rather safe, and nonburdensome method. Nevertheless, this practice is not free from complications, needs appropriate nursing care, and requires standardized policies and procedures.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Autonomic dysfunction in cancer cachexia coincides with large fiber polyneuropathy.
Cancer cachexia occurs in most patients suffering from solid malignancies. Recent works suggest paraneoplastic mechanisms. Empirical studies also found autonomic dysfunction in cancer patients, but comprehensive evaluation of the peripheral nervous system is lacking. ⋯ Large fiber polyneuropathy coincides with autonomic dysfunction in cachectic cancer patients. Our findings suggest a relevant role of sympathetic impairment in cancer cachexia.