Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialThe Effect of Methylphenidate on Fatigue in Advanced Cancer: An Aggregated N-of-1 Trial.
Fatigue is common in life-limiting cancer. Methylphenidate (MPH), a psychostimulant, may be a useful therapy. Gathering evidence in patients with advanced cancer can be challenging. ⋯ MPH does not improve fatigue in the population of patients with end-stage cancer. Aggregated N-of-1 trial methodology is feasible and produces population-based sample estimates with less than half the sample size required for the equivalent parallel-group RCT. It also identified individuals who did and did not respond to MPH, which is a feature difficult to achieve in a standard RCT. The study was registered with the Australian Clinical Trials Registry (12609000794202).
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2015
Multicenter StudyLinguistic Validation of the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory in Persian-Speaking Iranian Cancer Patients.
Various symptoms frequently affect cancer patients' quality of life. Appropriate assessment of these symptoms provides valuable data for cancer management. ⋯ The MDASI-P is a feasible, valid, and reliable instrument for evaluation of symptoms in Persian-speaking cancer patients and can be used to improve symptom management in these patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2015
Validation of the German Version of the Quality of Dying and Death Questionnaire for Informal Caregivers (QODD-D-Ang).
The quality of dying and death (QOD) influences end-of-life care for patients and their relatives. To the best of our knowledge, there are currently no validated standard instruments for evaluating the QOD of patients in palliative care units (PCUs) in Germany. ⋯ Analyses of validity and reliability of the QODD-D-Ang showed satisfactory to good psychometric properties, meaning that the QODD can be recommended for standard implementation in German hospices and palliative care institutions to measure the QOD. Feasibility could be improved by adapting the instrument so that it may be administered with minimal demands on staff. When interpreting the results, it should be kept in mind that the QODD-D-Ang does not measure quality of care but the quality of the dying process as estimated by bereaved relatives.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2015
Implementation of HIV Palliative Care: Interprofessional Education to Improve Patient Outcomes in Resource-Constrained Settings, 2004-2012.
Palliative care (PC), introduced early in the management of chronic illness, improves patient outcomes. Early integration of a palliative approach for persons with HIV has been documented to be effective in identifying and managing patient-level concerns over the past decade in African settings. The experience of implementing PC in multiple African and other resource-constrained settings (RCSs) emphasizes the need for essential palliative competencies that can be integrated with chronic disease management for patients and their families facing life-limiting illness. ⋯ S. city and may represent a mechanism for expanding the palliative approach into management of chronic disease. Such competencies may play a role in the development of the patient-centered medical home, a critical component of U. S. health care reform.