Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2017
Validation of the Spanish Version of the Quality of Dying and Death Questionnaire (QODD-ESP) in a Home-Based Cancer Palliative Care Program and Development of the QODD-ESP-12.
Improving quality of death (QOD) is a key goal in palliative care (PC). To our knowledge, no instruments to measure QOD have been validated in Spanish. ⋯ QODD-ESP-12 is a reliable and valid instrument with good psychometric properties and can be used to assess QOD in a Spanish-speaking cancer PC population by phone interview.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2017
Addressing palliative care clinician burnout in organizations: a workforce necessity, an ethical imperative.
Clinician burnout reduces the capacity for providers and health systems to deliver timely, high quality, patient-centered care and increases the risk that clinicians will leave practice. This is especially problematic in hospice and palliative care: patients are often frail, elderly, vulnerable, and complex; access to care is often outstripped by need; and demand for clinical experts will increase as palliative care further integrates into usual care. ⋯ As a society, we hold organizations responsible for acting ethically, especially when it relates to deployment and protection of valuable and constrained resources. We should similarly hold organizations responsible for being ethical stewards of the resource of highly trained and talented clinicians through comprehensive programs to address burnout.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2017
Psychometric assessment of the Chinese version of the Abbreviated Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC-26) and the Clinical practice version (EPIC-CP) in Chinese men with prostate cancer.
The Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC) instrument was designed to assess a range of health-related quality-of-life issues specifically relevant to patients with prostate cancer. This study examined the validity and reliability of Chinese versions of the 26-item EPIC and of the 16-item EPIC for Clinical Practice (EPIC-CP) in Chinese patients with prostate cancer. ⋯ These Chinese versions of the five-factor EPIC-26 and the EPIC-CP are valid and practical measures for assessing a range of health-related quality-of-life issues related to the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, highlighting their utility in assessing health-related quality of life for patients diagnosed with prostate cancer.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2017
United States Clergy Religious Values and Relationships to End-of-Life Discussions and Care.
Although clergy interact with approximately half of U.S. patients facing end-of-life medical decisions, little is known about clergy-congregant interactions or clergy influence on end-of-life decisions. ⋯ American clergy hold religious values concerning end-of-life medical decisions, which appear to decrease end-of-life discussions. Clergy end-of-life education may enable better quality end-of-life care for religious patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2017
Anxiety after diagnosis predicts lung-cancer specific and overall survival in patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer. A population-based cohort study.
The question as to whether anxiety and depression are related to mortality in patients with lung cancer is inconclusive. ⋯ In a large population-based sample of patients with non-small cell lung cancer analyses demonstrated associations of anxiety with mortality, adding to the evidence that psychosocial factors might play a role in disease progression in this patient group. Because emotional distress is associated with continued smoking and lack of success of smoking cessation attempts, psychological interventions potentially could influence length of survival in lung cancer patients.