Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2017
ReviewThe Edmonton Symptom Assessment System 25 Years Later: Past, Present and Future Developments.
Routine symptom assessment represents the cornerstone of symptom management. Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) is one of the first quantitative symptom assessment batteries that allows for simple and rapid documentation of multiple patient-reported symptoms at the same time. ⋯ ESAS has evolved over the past 25 years to become an important symptom assessment instrument in both clinical practice and research. Future efforts are needed to standardize this tool and explore its full potential to support symptom management.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2017
Association between Multi-Frequency Phase Angle and Survival in Patients with Advanced Cancer.
The ability to predict survival accurately has implications in clinical decision making. ⋯ Phase angle represents a novel objective prognostic factor in outpatient palliative cancer care setting, regardless of frequency and body sides.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2017
ReviewTopical Treatment of Peripheral Neuropathic Pain: Applying the Evidence.
Patients with peripheral neuropathic pain (NP) may only achieve partial pain relief with currently recommended first-line oral treatments, which are also associated with systemic adverse events. Topical treatments are currently considered second- or third-line options, but a recent pharmacologic treatment algorithm has called for broader first-line use of these agents. This has highlighted a need to communicate the benefits associated with topical agents, in particular around the efficacy, targeted local action, and limited systemic availability resulting in minimal systemic adverse events and drug-drug interactions. ⋯ First-line use of topical agents may be of particular benefit in patients where the safety and tolerability of oral therapy is a concern.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2017
Integrating Supportive Care Principles into Dialysis Decision-Making: A Primer for Palliative Medicine Providers.
Despite advances in predialysis care and dialysis technology, patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease continue to experience multiple comorbidities, a high symptom burden, a shortened life expectancy, and substantial physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. Patients with acute kidney injury and end-stage renal disease, especially if they are older, often undergo prolonged hospitalizations, greater use of intensive medical treatment, and limited survival. ⋯ These patients would benefit from the integration of supportive care principles into their care. This article addresses how supportive care specialists can collaborate with nephrology clinicians to provide patient-centered supportive care and identifies resources to assist them in this endeavor.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2017
Operationalizing the Measuring What Matters Spirituality Quality Metric in a Population of Hospitalized, Critically Ill Patients and Their Family Members.
Measuring What Matters (MWM) quality indicators support measurement of the percentage of patients who have spiritual discussions, if desired. ⋯ Operationalizing the MWM spirituality quality indicator was challenging as elements of a "spiritual screening" or documentation of a "spiritual discussion" were not clearly documented in the EMR. The high prevalence of spirituality among respondents validates the importance of spirituality as a potential quality metric.