Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2014
Development and preliminary testing of the quality of spiritual care scale.
The provision of spiritual care is considered a key element of hospice and palliative care, but there is a paucity of empirically developed quality-of-care measures in this domain. ⋯ Preliminary testing of the QSC scale suggests that it is a valid and reliable outcome measure of the quality of spiritual care at the end of life.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2014
Proteomic serum profile of fatigued men receiving localized external beam radiation therapy for non-metastatic prostate cancer.
Fatigue is the most distressing side effect of radiation therapy, and its progression etiology is unknown. ⋯ These ApoE, ApoA1, and TTR results may assist in understanding pathways that can explain fatigue progression etiology in this clinical population.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2014
Case ReportsIntimate partner violence in an outpatient palliative care setting.
Although a few studies have evaluated intimate partner violence (IPV) in the oncology setting, to our knowledge no studies exist of IPV among palliative care patients. IPV may be exacerbated at the end of life because patients and their caregivers often experience significant stressors associated with physical, emotional, social, and financial burdens. ⋯ A better understanding and awareness of IPV at the end of life could help clinicians support and counsel patients and ameliorate the suffering caused by this “unspoken” trauma. We further discuss 1) the prevalence and indicators of IPV, 2) how to initiate conversations about IPV, 3) the resources available to clinicians, and 4) various management strategies.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2014
Symptom burden clusters: a challenge for targeted symptom management. A longitudinal study examining symptom burden clusters in breast cancer.
Although there has been a growing interest in cancer symptom clusters, less is known about symptom burden clusters. ⋯ This study provides insights into symptom burden clusters over time. A challenging approach toward symptom management in clinical oncology is to target the burden of a symptom cluster and to recognize the need for individually designed interventions to ameliorate symptom burden in cancer patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2014
Clearance of meperidine and its metabolite normeperidine in hemodialysis patients with chronic noncancer pain.
Normeperidine accumulates in patients with impaired renal function and may cause central neurotoxicity. However, some uremic patients still undergo meperidine treatment for chronic pain. ⋯ Hemodialysis can efficiently remove meperidine and its active metabolite, normeperidine, in uremic patients receiving long-term meperidine therapy for chronic noncancer pain.