Journal of pain and symptom management
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the inherent dignity, the equal and unalienable rights to be universally protected for all humans irrespective of race, color, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Though this includes the right to dignity-conserving care for terminally ill unauthorized immigrants, access to quality end-of-life care eludes them. Most of the estimated 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants either entered the country without the knowledge of the U. ⋯ Lack of opportunity for advance care planning discussions and lack of eligibility to hospice services commonly contributes to poor end of life care. As unauthorized immigrants approach the last days of life, they may often die alone, away from their loved ones, with little-to-no psychosocial support in their final moments. This article provides an overview on end-of-life care for unauthorized immigrants and makes recommendations for potential strategies to providing humane care and support to this vulnerable population.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2018
Meta AnalysisNonpharmacologic Interventions for Improving Sleep Disturbances in Patients With Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Lung cancer patients experience higher levels of sleep disturbances compared to other cancer patients, and this leads to greater distress, poorer function, and lower quality of life. Nonpharmacologic interventions have demonstrated improvements in the context of breast cancer, but their efficacy in the lung cancer population is unclear. ⋯ Limitations include the high heterogeneity of interventions and outcome measures, in addition to small sample sizes and high risk of bias within studies. Because they do not allow for a clear interpretation of the results, it is recommended that every patient should be assessed individually to guide a possible referral.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialCoping Skills Practice and Symptom Change: A Secondary Analysis of a Pilot Telephone Symptom Management Intervention for Lung Cancer Patients and Their Family Caregivers.
Little research has explored coping skills practice in relation to symptom outcomes in psychosocial interventions for cancer patients and their family caregivers. ⋯ Findings suggest that the effectiveness of TSM may have been reduced by competing effects of certain coping skills. Future interventions should consider focusing on assertive communication training for patients and guided imagery for caregivers.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2018
A Systematic Review of Palliative Care Intervention Outcomes and Outcome Measures in Low-Resource Countries.
To meet the growing need for palliative care in low-resource countries, palliative care programs should be evidence based and contextually appropriate. This study was conducted to synthesize the current evidence to guide future programmatic and research efforts. ⋯ Many palliative care intervention models exist to serve patients in low-resource countries. Yet, limited high-quality evidence from low-resource countries is available to document intervention outcomes. Rigorous experimental studies and greater measurement of multidimensional aspects of palliative care are needed to advance the science of palliative care in low-resource settings.