Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
ReviewFeasibility and Pilot Studies in Palliative Care Research: A Systematic Review.
Feasibility and pilot study designs are common in palliative care research. Finding standard guidelines on the structure and reporting of these study types is difficult. ⋯ The terms "feasibility" and "pilot" are used synonymously in palliative care research when describing studies that test for feasibility. Few studies in palliative care research outline clear criteria for success. The assessment of participant acceptability and burden is uncommon. A gold standard for feasibility study design in palliative care research that includes both clear criteria for success and testing of the study protocol for participant acceptability and burden is needed. Such a standard would assist with consistency in the design, conduct and reporting of feasibility and pilot studies.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Multicenter StudySpecialty Palliative Care Consultations for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia.
U.S. nursing home (NH) residents with dementia have limited access to specialty palliative care beyond Medicare hospice. ⋯ Consultations appear to reduce acute care use and (potentially) burdensome transitions for dying residents with dementia. Reductions were greater when consultations were earlier.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
"I Just Felt Like I Was Stuck in the Middle": Physician Assistants' Experiences Communicating with Terminally Ill Patients and their Families in the Acute Care Setting.
Terminally ill hospitalized patients and their families consistently rank effective communication and shared decision-making among their top priorities. Advance practice providers such as physician assistants (PAs) are increasingly providing care in the hospital setting and are often called to communicate with patients and families. A first step to improving PA communication is to better understand PAs' current experiences in their daily practices. ⋯ Interventions aimed at improving PA communication with terminally ill patients and their families should target institutional structures, systems, and culture around roles and responsibilities in addition to skill and knowledge gaps to be most effective.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Distinguishing between spiritual distress, general distress, spiritual well-being, and spiritual pain among cancer patients during oncology treatment.
Spiritual distress is present in approximately 25% of oncology patients. ⋯ The DT is not sufficient to identify spiritual distress. The peace subscale of FACIT-Sp-12 is a better match than the measure as a whole. The SIS is the best match for spiritual distress, although an imperfect one.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Multicenter StudyImpact of Undertreatment of Cancer Pain with Analgesic Drugs on Patient Outcomes: A Nationwide Survey of Outpatient Cancer Patient Care in Taiwan.
Undertreatment of cancer pain among outpatient cancer patients needs to be addressed to enhance care and improve patients' quality of life (QoL). ⋯ One-third of Taiwanese outpatients experienced pain because of undertreatment. Awareness of the prevalence of undertreatment of cancer pain and identification of the vulnerable subjects may assist in enhancing patient care and improving patient's QoL.