Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2018
Palliative Care Need and Availability in Four Referral Hospitals in Senegal: Results from a Multicomponent Assessment.
With prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and life expectancy rising in Senegal, the need for palliative care is likely growing. No national palliative care needs assessments have been carried out. ⋯ There is significant need for palliative care in Senegal. Training of health care workers and ensuring availability of relevant medications should be prioritized.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2018
Menopausal-Related Symptoms in Women One Year After Breast Cancer Surgery.
Approximately 60% to 100% of women with breast cancer experience at least one menopausal-related symptom. Little is known about associations between menopausal status and symptoms in women 12 months after breast cancer surgery. ⋯ Regardless of menopausal status, women reported relatively high occurrence rates for several menopausal symptoms. Associations between symptom occurrence rates and menopausal status depended on the patient's age. During the development of a survivorship care plan, clinicians need to assess symptom burden within the context of a woman's menopausal status and salient demographic and clinical characteristics. This approach will assist with the prescription of more effective interventions.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2018
Opioids in the Treatment of Pain. Beliefs, Knowledge, and Attitudes of the General Spanish Population. Identification of Subgroups Through Cluster Analysis.
A lack of information has been found related to patients' perception toward pain management. ⋯ The different perspectives of patients regarding the use of opioids to treat pain should be taken into consideration by the physician when designing strategies to inform patients about the treatment of pain with opioids. This should promote their correct use, specially preventing their misuse.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2018
Observational StudyAccurate Prognostic Awareness Facilitates, Whereas Better Quality of Life and More Anxiety Symptoms Hinder End-of-Life Care Discussions: A Longitudinal Survey Study in Terminally Ill Cancer Patients' Last Six Months of Life.
Terminally ill cancer patients do not engage in end-of-life (EOL) care discussions or do so only when death is imminent, despite guidelines for EOL care discussions early in their disease trajectory. Most studies on patient-reported EOL care discussions are cross sectional without exploring the evolution of EOL care discussions as death approaches. Cross-sectional studies cannot determine the direction of association between EOL care discussions and patients' prognostic awareness, psychological well-being, and quality of life (QOL). ⋯ Physician-patient EOL care discussions for terminally ill Taiwanese cancer patients remain uncommon even when death approaches. Physicians should facilitate EOL care discussions by cultivating patients' accurate prognostic awareness early in their cancer trajectory when they are physically and psychologically competent, with better QOL, thus promoting informed and value-based EOL care decision making.