Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2007
Multicenter StudyThe impact of palliative care on cancer deaths in Hong Kong: a retrospective study of 494 cancer deaths.
To study the utilization of public health care by advanced cancer patients in their last 6 months of life and their end-of-life process within the last 2 weeks of life. ⋯ Our results suggest that palliative care service has played a role in improving end-of-life cancer care in Hong Kong.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2007
ReviewChallenges to participation in paediatric palliative care research: a review of the literature.
It has been identified that there is a need for increased palliative care research within the paediatric setting. The assessment of parental views is necessary for this population. However, the conduct of research and recruitment of participants is often challenging. ⋯ This comprehensive review of the literature aims to address the ethical and recruitment issues of involving parents of children that are receiving palliative or end-of-life care. Key elements, that may maximize completion of research and a more representative sample, are also discussed. These elements include obtaining the opinions on study design and interview script from experienced families and maximizing the partnership between health care professionals and the research team.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2007
Modelling services to meet the palliative care needs of chronic heart failure patients and their families: current practice in the UK.
To describe current provision of specialist palliative care for chronic heart failure (CHF) patients, and explore challenges, referral criteria and recommendations to inform service development. ⋯ Information regarding existing services' challenges, recommendations and referral systems is essential when designing a new service, maximising feasibility and acceptability. This study design is of particular value when descriptions and evaluations of service models are lacking in the literature. The survey gives much-needed depth and detail to the types of services currently providing palliative care to CHF patients across the UK.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2007
A practical instrument to explore patients' needs in palliative care: the Problems and Needs in Palliative Care questionnaire short version.
Short and convenient checklists are necessary tools to support and structure needs assessments in daily palliative practice. This study aims to develop a short version of the Problems and Needs in Palliative Care questionnaire (PNPC-sv); a self-report questionnaire for patients covering all dimensions of palliative care, to investigate their problems and (unmet) needs. ⋯ The PNPC-sv is a concise, patient-centred tool that helps to identify the problems affecting the patient's quality of life and needs for care. It identifies prevalent needs for care and appears reliable. Further research should study the clinical effects of integrating the questionnaire into daily palliative-care practice.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2007
Symptoms in patients receiving palliative care: a study on patient-physician encounters in general practice.
Most people with an incurable disease prefer to stay and die at home, cared for by their general practitioner (GP). This paper aims at describing the prevalence of symptoms in patients receiving palliative care at home. Within the framework of a nation wide survey of general practice in the Netherlands, GPs received a questionnaire for all patients who died within the 1-year survey period to determine whether patients received palliative care (n = 2,194). ⋯ Not reported in previous studies were musculoskeletal symptoms (20%) and chronic ulcer (18%). Concluding, this showed that Dutch GPs encounter a diversity and wide range of symptoms in palliative care. To face these complex challenges in patients receiving palliative care at home, GPs have to be trained as well as supported by specialized palliative care consultants.