Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2015
Screening for depression in advanced disease: psychometric properties, sensitivity, and specificity of two items of the Palliative Care Outcome Scale (POS).
Depression is common among patients with advanced disease but often difficult to detect. ⋯ POS items 7 and 8 summed are potentially useful to screen for depression in advanced disease populations.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2015
Observational StudyPatterns of use of medical cannabis among Israeli cancer patients: a single institution experience.
The use of the cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L.) for the palliative treatment of cancer patients has been legalized in multiple jurisdictions including Israel. Yet, not much is currently known regarding the efficacy and patterns of use of cannabis in this setting. ⋯ Cannabis use is perceived as highly effective by some patients with advanced cancer and its administration can be regulated, even by local authorities. Additional studies are required to evaluate the efficacy of cannabis as part of the palliative treatment of cancer patients.
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Palliative medicine must prioritize the routine assessment of the quality of clinical care we provide. This includes regular assessment, analysis, and reporting of data on quality. Assessment of quality informs opportunities for improvement and demonstrates to our peers and ourselves the value of our efforts. ⋯ S. shift from fee-for-service to fee-for-value models, palliative care will be expected to report robust data on quality of care. We must move beyond demonstrating to our constituents (including patients and referrers), "here is what we do," and increase the focus on "this is how well we do it" and "let us see how we can do it better." It is incumbent on palliative care professionals to lead these efforts. This involves developing standardized methods to collect data without adding additional burden, comparing and sharing our experiences to promote discipline-wide quality assessment and improvement initiatives, and demonstrating our intentions for quality improvement on the clinical frontline.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2015
The frequency of alcoholism in patients with advanced cancer admitted to an acute palliative care unit and a home care program.
Cancer patients with a history of alcoholism may be problematic. The frequency of alcoholism among patients with advanced cancer has never been reported in Italy or other European countries. ⋯ Only a minority of patients were CAGE positive, with a similar frequency in the PCU and HCP settings. CAGE-positive patients were more likely to be male and younger, independent of diagnosis and performance status. CAGE was positively correlated with informal interviews for detecting alcoholism. As CAGE patients express more symptom distress, it is important to detect this problem with a simple tool that has a high sensitivity and specificity and is easy to use even in patients with advanced disease.