Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2014
First Spanish version of the Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale: psychometric properties, responsiveness, and factor loadings.
The Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale (MDAS) is a reliable and validated instrument with which to assess delirium. However, MDAS responsiveness has only been investigated in an indirect way. Also, neurobehavioral and global cognitive factors seem to be the MDAS main factor loads. ⋯ The high responsiveness confirms the value of the MDAS for ongoing delirium assessment. Two differentiated factor loadings point to a potential future need for MDAS subscales.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2014
Comparative StudyHow to measure the international development of palliative care? A critique and discussion of current approaches.
A number of research projects have been conducted that aim to gather data on the international development of palliative care. These data are important for policy makers and palliative care advocates. ⋯ Measuring the international development of palliative care is a difficult and challenging task. The results of this study could be used to improve the validity of future research in this field.
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The aim of this article was to review the ethical debate concerning palliative sedation. Although recent guidelines articulate the differences between palliative sedation and euthanasia, the ethical controversies remain. The dominant view is that euthanasia and palliative sedation are morally distinct practices. ⋯ These additional parameters, although not without ethical and practical problems, together formulate a framework to ethically distinguish a more narrowly defined practice of palliative sedation from practices that are tantamount to euthanasia. Finally, the article raises the question as to what impact palliative sedation might have on the practice of palliative care itself. The increasing interest in palliative sedation may reemphasize characteristics of health care that initially encouraged the emergence of palliative care in the first place: the focus on therapy rather than care, the physical dimension rather than the whole person, the individual rather than the community, and the primacy of intervention rather than receptiveness and presence.