Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2024
Randomized Controlled TrialPatient-Caregiver Dyads & End-of-Life Care: Caregiver Personality Disrupts Gender-based Norms.
Gender and personality may individually impact end-of-life care. Men often receive more aggressive treatments than women near death, and personality - particularly openness - may be associated with increased care utilization when it diverges from traditional treatment norms. However, research has not examined the interaction of these variables in a dyadic context. ⋯ Results suggest caregiver personality characteristics, particularly openness, might disrupt gender-based treatment norms at end-of-life. Findings demonstrate that patient and caregiver factors can interact to explain patient healthcare utilization.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2024
Measures of Patient and Surrogate Preparedness for End-of-Life Decision-Making.
Reliable and valid measures are critical in accurately assessing outcomes of advance care planning interventions (ACP) for end-of-life (EOL) decision-making. ⋯ The preparedness scales demonstrated strong psychometric properties. Future studies should examine scale performance in other populations.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2024
Observational StudyComparison of pharmacological treatments for agitated delirium in the last days of life.
Antipsychotics are often used in managing symptoms of terminal delirium, but evidence is limited. ⋯ Haloperidol with as-needed benzodiazepine, chlorpromazine, or levomepromazine may be effective and safe for terminal agitation. Chlorpromazine and levomepromazine may have an advantage of no need to change medications.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2024
Feasibility of a Two-Step Palliative Screening Utilizing Existing Emergency Department Resources.
Although the Emergency Department (ED) offers a unique setting to provide early palliative care, staffing limitations curtail hospitals from establishing ED-palliative partnerships. ⋯ Our project demonstrated feasibility of a two-step ED-palliative protocol by increasing palliative care consultation without necessitating additional staff.