Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2015
Comparative StudyOpioid Concentrations in Oral Fluid and Plasma in Cancer Patients With Pain.
Measuring opioid concentrations in pain treatment is warranted in situations where optimal opioid analgesia is difficult to reach. ⋯ OFL analysis is well suited for detecting the studied opioids. For morphine and fentanyl, an approximation of the plasma opioid concentrations is obtainable, whereas for oxycodone, the OFL/plasma concentration relationship is too variable for reliable approximation results.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2015
Validation of the Arabic Version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale Among Lebanese Cancer Patients.
To our knowledge, there have been no previous attempts to translate the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS) into the Arabic language and validate it among the Arab cancer population. ⋯ The MSAS-Leb has acceptable psychometric properties of reliability and validity. We recommend its use in clinical practice and outpatient settings among health care professionals to assess and follow-up on symptom burden among patients diagnosed with cancer.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2015
"The Patient is Dying, Please Call the Chaplain": The Activities of Chaplains in One Medical Center's Intensive Care Units.
Patients and families commonly experience spiritual stress during an intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Although most patients report that they want spiritual support, little is known about how these issues are addressed by hospital chaplains. ⋯ In the ICUs at this tertiary medical center, chaplain visits are uncommon and generally occur just before death among ICU patients. Communication between chaplains and physicians is rare. Chaplaincy service is primarily reserved for dying patients and their family members rather than providing proactive spiritual support. These observations highlight the need to better understand challenges and barriers to optimal chaplain involvement in ICU patient care.
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