Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jan 2006
Comparative StudyNational survey of end-of-life decisions made by UK medical practitioners.
This study estimates the frequency of different end-of-life decisions (ELDs) in medical practice in the UK, compares these with other countries and assesses doctors' views on the adequacy of current UK law. ⋯ The lower relative rate of ELDs involving doctor-assisted dying in the UK, and the relatively high rate of non-treatment decisions, suggests a culture of medical decision making informed by a palliative care philosophy.
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Palliative medicine · Jan 2006
Multicenter StudyHypoactive delirium: assessing the extent of the problem for inpatient specialist palliative care.
Delirium is a common problem and cause of distress among patients with palliative care needs. The focus to date has been on managing the patient with agitated, hyperactive delirium, as these patients are very noticeable within the palliative care setting. This study in two parts shows that palliative care patients with agitated delirium are a minority of the total proportion of those with delirium. ⋯ Part II: 8 specialist palliative care units took part in a point prevalence study of delirium over a 48-hour period. One hundred and nine patients were assessed and while 29.4% of these inpatients had delirium, 78% of them had the hypoactive subtype. Patients with hypoactive delirium may be much less noticeable or may be misdiagnosed as having depression or fatigue and the results of this study would advocate the routine use of delirium screening tools in all palliative care settings.