Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
Increasing Trend and Effects of Pediatric Palliative Care on Children with Non-Cancer Diagnoses.
Pediatric palliative care (PPC), especially among noncancer pediatric patients, faces challenges including late referral, limited patient care, and insufficient data for Asian patients. ⋯ High disparities exist between children receiving PPC in cancer versus noncancer patients. The concept of PPC is gradually becoming accepted in noncancer children and is associated with more pain-relief medication and less suffering during end-of-life care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
Aging is not an Illness: Exploring Geriatricians' Resistance to Serious Illness Conversations.
Serious illness conversations help clinicians align medical decisions with patients' goals, values, and priorities and are considered an essential component of shared decision-making. Yet geriatricians at our institution have expressed reluctance about the serious illness care program. ⋯ As institutions work to create system-wide processes for documenting conversations about patients' goals and values, the unique communication preferences of older patients and geriatricians should be specifically considered.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
Randomized Controlled TrialPatient-Reported Outcome Benefits for Children with Advanced Cancer and Parents: A Qualitative Study.
Electronic patient-reported outcomes (e-PROs) in pediatric oncology may be useful to track patients' symptoms and quality of life (QoL). However, implementation in the clinical setting is limited and few studies have examined child and parent perspectives on e-PRO usage. ⋯ Advanced pediatric cancer patients and their parents found benefit in completing routine e-PROs as they promoted greater reflection and awareness and increased communication. These results may inform further integration of e-PROs in routine pediatric oncology care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
A Systematic Approach to Assessing and Addressing Palliative Care Needs in an Outpatient Population.
A critical frontier for palliative medicine is to develop systems to routinely and equitably address the palliative care (PC) needs of seriously ill populations. ⋯ Through an innovative program, patients with serious illness were identified from a primary care population, assessed for PC needs, and offered specific services to meet those needs. While some patients were appropriate for specialty PC, even more needs were addressed without specialty PC. The program resulted in increased ACP and preserved quality of life.