Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2020
Engaging Hospices in Quality Measurement and Improvement: Early Experiences of a Large Integrated Healthcare System.
The quality of hospice care remains highly variable in the U. S. Patients, providers, and health care systems lack a comprehensive method of measuring the quality of care provided by an individual hospice. ⋯ For hospices scoring above the 15th percentile (n = 19), scores ranged from 10.0 to 19.5 (median 14). The hospice RFI process is one health care system's attempt to evaluate hospice quality. Further research will determine whether the scoring system proves to be a sensitive, specific, and reproducible measure of hospice quality, and whether the collaborative can foster quality improvement over time.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2020
Healing the hearts of bereaved parents: Impact of legacy artwork on grief in pediatric oncology.
Approximately 12% of children with cancer will not survive, representing a devastating loss for parents. Strategies to improve parental coping and grief have been understudied. Although legacy-making is frequently offered as standard care to children with terminal illness and their families, these interventions have received little empirical attention. ⋯ Participating in legacy artwork may result in self-reported positive outcomes for bereaved parents before and after their child's death, including family bonding, enhanced communication, meaning-making, and improvements in grief. As a result of these benefits, children's hospitals may consider offering legacy artwork for children with cancer and their families.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2020
Parent Perceptions of Team-Delivered Care for Children with Advanced Cancer: A report from the PediQUEST study.
Childhood cancer care is delivered by interprofessional health care teams; however, little is known about how parents perceive overall team-delivered care (TDC). ⋯ Among parents of children with advanced cancer, more than one-third report less-than-excellent TDC. In addition, less than half report excellent teamwork, and ratings of care rendered by individual clinicians are highly variable. Findings suggest that interventions are needed to enhance interprofessional teamwork in the care of children with advanced cancer.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2020
Observational StudyIMPACT OF RENAL SUPPORTIVE CARE ON SYMPTOM BURDEN IN DIALYSIS PATIENTS: A PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL COHORT STUDY.
Symptom burden is a strong predictor of reduced health-related quality of life and survival in patients with end-stage kidney disease. Renal supportive care (RSC) is a comprehensive approach shown to benefit symptoms in nondialysis conservatively managed patients, although its role in dialysis patients has not been reported. ⋯ RSC intervention that focuses on symptom control and patient-centered care is associated with improved total and individual symptom burden in dialysis patients. This supports a role for RSC as a management adjunct in these patients.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2020
Developing Unique Insights from Narrative Responses to Bereaved Family Surveys.
Although bereaved family surveys (BFS) are routinely used quantitatively for quality assessment, open-ended and narrative responses are rarely systematically analyzed. Analysis of narrative responses may identify opportunities for improving end-of-life (EOL) care delivery. ⋯ Systematic analysis of narrative survey data yields unique findings not routinely available through quantitative data collection and analysis. Organizations may benefit from the collection and regular analysis of narrative survey responses, which facilitate identification of needed improvements in palliative and EOL care that may improve the overall experiences for patients and families.