Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2020
A virtual children's hospice in response to COVID-19: The Scottish experience.
This case report describes a pediatric hospice provider in Scotland and their experience implementing a telehospice program in response to COVID-19. Children's Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) is the only provider of pediatric hospice care in the entire of Scotland, and we describe their experience offering pediatric telehospice. ⋯ They creatively added new services to meet the unique needs of the entire family, who were caring for a child at end of life during COVID-19. CHAS's experience highlights the planning and implementing processes of telehospice with key lessons learned, while acknowledging the challenges inherent in using technology to deliver hospice care.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2020
Grief During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations for Palliative Care Providers.
The COVID-19 pandemic is anticipated to continue spreading widely across the globe throughout 2020. To mitigate the devastating impact of COVID-19, social distancing and visitor restrictions in health care facilities have been widely implemented. ⋯ Furthermore, we provide discussion regarding countering this grief through communication, advance care planning, and self-care practices. We provide resources for health care providers, in addition to calling on palliative care providers to consider their own role as a resource to other specialties during this public health emergency.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2020
Spiritual care, pain reduction and preferred place of death among advanced cancer patients in Soweto, South Africa.
When religious and spiritual (R/S) care needs of patients with advanced disease are met, their quality of life (QoL) improves. We studied the association between R/S support and QoL of patients with cancer at the end of life in Soweto, South Africa. ⋯ Patients with cancer have R/S needs. R/S care among our patients appeared to improve their end-of-life experience. More research is needed to determine the mechanisms by which R/S care may have improved the observed patient outcomes.