Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2020
Post-doctoral research training in palliative care: lessons learned from a T32 program.
Our aging population and advances in chronic disease management that prolong the time that patients live with a chronic illness have combined to create an enormous need for improved palliative care research across diverse diseases. In this article, we describe the structure and processes of a National Institutes of Health-funded T32 postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Washington and our experiences in developing and implementing the program. ⋯ In addition, we also describe our framework for the essential competencies necessary for a palliative care research training program, our methods for identification and selection of applicants, our outcomes to date, and our processes of continuous quality assessment and improvement. Our goal is to describe our successful postdoctoral research training program in palliative care to promote development of new programs and share information between programs to continue to build the field of collaborative and interdisciplinary palliative care research.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2020
Review Meta AnalysisExercise training for improving patient-reported outcomes in patients with advanced-stage cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Patients with advanced-stage cancer often suffer many physical and psychological symptoms. Exercise has been shown to improve quality of life (QoL), decrease cancer-related symptoms, and maintain or improve functional status in cancer survivors or patients with early stage cancer. However, the effect of exercise on these outcomes in patients with advanced-stage cancer is unclear. ⋯ Exercise serves as an effective intervention to improve QoL and alleviate fatigue, insomnia, dyspnea, and physical and social functions for patients with advanced-stage cancer.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2020
Intention-to-treat analyses for randomised controlled trials in hospice/palliative care: the case for analyses to be of people exposed to the intervention.
Minimizing bias in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) includes intention-to-treat analyses. Hospice/palliative care RCTs are constrained by high attrition unpredictable when consenting, including withdrawals between randomization and first exposure to the intervention. Such withdrawals may systematically bias findings away from the new intervention being evaluated if they are considered nonresponders. ⋯ If blinding is maintained and all interventions are available simultaneously, our model suggests that excluding data from withdrawals between randomization and first exposure to the intervention minimizes one bias. This is the safety population as defined by the International Committee on Harmonization. When planning for future trials, minimizing the time between randomization and first exposure to the intervention will minimize the problem. Power should be calculated on people who receive the intervention.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2020
Randomized Controlled TrialMulti-Symptom Profile Predicts Increased Risk of Poor Outcomes Following Initial Placement of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator.
Patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are at risk for multiple physical and psychological symptoms. Identification of specific symptom profiles associated with poor outcomes may elucidate novel strategies to enhance symptom management. ⋯ Evaluation of symptom profiles after ICD implantation offers a promising strategy for identifying patients at risk for poor health outcomes.