Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2016
Care Consistency with Documented Care Preferences: Methodologic Considerations for Implementing the Measuring What Matters Quality Indicator.
A basic tenet of palliative care is discerning patient treatment preferences and then honoring these preferences, reflected by the inclusion of "Care Consistency With Documented Care Preferences" as one of 10 "Measuring What Matters quality" indicators. Measuring What Matters indicators are intended to serve as a foundation for quality measurement in health care settings. ⋯ Furthermore, we outline methodologic challenges in using this indicator in both research and practice, such as documentation, specificity and relevance, preference stability, and measuring nonevents. Recommendations to strengthen the accuracy of measurement of this important quality marker in health care settings include consistent recording of preferences in the medical record, considerations for selection of treatment preferences for tracking, establishing a protocol for review of preferences, and adoption of a consistent measurement approach.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2016
Psychometric characteristics of the Hebrew Version of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQol) Scale.
Exposure to human suffering may have ramifications for the professional quality of life (ProQol) of palliative care teams. The ProQol scale was designed to assess both negative and positive work-related outcomes and has been used recently for the evaluation of work-related outcomes among palliative care workers. However, the assessment of ProQol among Israeli hospice workers is scant. ⋯ Although the findings are consistent with those from studies in other languages, they are different from the original 30-item three-factor structure reported by Stamm. The Hebrew version of the compassion satisfaction subscale was found to be reliable and valid for studies among health care professionals, but further research is needed to improve the BU and secondary traumatic stress subscales.
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PC-FACS(FastArticleCriticalSummaries for Clinicians inPalliativeCare) provides hospice and palliative care clinicians with concise summaries of the most important findings from more than 100 medical and scientific journals. If you have colleagues who would benefit from receiving PC-FACS, please encourage them to join the AAHPM at aahpm.org. Comments from readers are welcomed at pc-facs@aahpm.org.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialRandomized Pilot Trial of a Telephone Symptom Management Intervention for Symptomatic Lung Cancer Patients and Their Family Caregivers.
Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting both men and women and is associated with high symptom burden and psychological distress. Lung cancer patients' family caregivers also show high rates of distress. However, few interventions have been tested to alleviate significant problems of this population. ⋯ Findings suggest that our brief telephone-based psychosocial intervention is not efficacious for symptomatic lung cancer patients and their family caregivers. Next steps include examining specific intervention components in relation to study outcomes, mechanisms of change, and differing intervention doses and modalities.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2016
Nordic Walking as an Exercise Intervention to Reduce Pain in Women with Aromatase Inhibitor Associated Arthralgia: A Feasibility Study.
Women taking aromatase inhibitors as treatment for breast cancer commonly experience joint pain and stiffness (aromatase inhibitor-associated arthralgia [AIAA]), which can cause problems with adherence. There is evidence that exercise might be helpful, and Nordic walking could reduce joint pain compared to normal walking. ⋯ Our findings indicate that women with AIAA are prepared to take up Nordic walking, complete a six-week supervised course and maintain increased activity levels over a 12-week period with no adverse effects.