Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2016
Multicenter StudyInitial Validation of the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale in Chinese Immigrants with Cancer Pain.
Evaluating religious/spiritual influences in the growing Chinese-American population may inform the development of culturally relevant palliative care interventions. ⋯ In Chinese Americans with cancer pain, the DSES-C demonstrated acceptable psychometrics. Some participants experienced linguistic or cultural barriers preventing completion. Future investigations should provide additional validation in different Asian subgroups and those with varied medical conditions.
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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 · Feb 2016
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyBlinded Patient Preference for Morphine Compared to Placebo in the Setting of Chronic Refractory Breathlessness - An Exploratory Study.
Patients' preference for morphine therapy has received little attention in the setting of chronic refractory breathlessness. However, this is one important factor in considering longer term therapy. ⋯ Participants preferred morphine over placebo for the relief of chronic refractory breathlessness. Morphine offers clinically important improvement, but net benefit can be easily outweighed by side effects, reducing net benefits. Side effects require aggressive management to allow more patients to realize benefits.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2016
Multicenter Study Observational StudyMinimal Clinically Important Difference in the Physical, Emotional and Total Symptom Distress Scores of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System.
The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) is one of the most commonly used symptom batteries in clinical practice and research. ⋯ We identified the MCIDs for physical, emotional, and total symptom distress scores, which have implications for interpretation of symptom response in clinical trials.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2016
Multicenter StudyFeeling Heard and Understood: A Patient-Reported Quality Measure for the Inpatient Palliative Care Setting.
As endorsed by the palliative care "Measuring What Matters" initiative, capturing patients' direct assessment of their care is essential for ongoing quality reporting and improvement. Fostering an environment where seriously ill patients feel heard and understood is of crucial importance to modern health care. ⋯ The "Heard & Understood" item is a promising self-report quality measure for the inpatient palliative care setting.