Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Mar 2008
ReviewHow well do current instruments using bereaved relatives' views evaluate care for dying patients?
Providing good quality of care for dying patients and their families has been highlighted as a national priority in the UK. Defining and measuring the quality of this care is therefore important. Using the views of patients has practical and ethical difficulties, so an alternative approach is to seek the views of bereaved relatives and close friends after the patients' death. ⋯ None of the instruments in their current format could comprehensively evaluate 'care for the dying' in the UK healthcare setting. We would propose to develop and validate a tool specifically assigned for this purpose.
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Palliative medicine · Mar 2008
ReviewThe Edmonton Symptom Assessment System: a 15-year retrospective review of validation studies (1991--2006).
The purpose of this review was to identify and critique validation studies focusing on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS), a commonly used symptom assessment tool for advanced cancer and palliative patients. ⋯ The use of varying instrument formats and limited psychometric evidence support the need for further ESAS validation studies, including the involvement of patients.
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Palliative medicine · Mar 2008
Multicenter StudyThe effect of the Liverpool Care Pathway for the dying: a multi-centre study.
We studied the effect of the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) on the documentation of care, symptom burden and communication in three health care settings. Between November 2003 and February 2005 (baseline period), the care was provided as usual. Between February 2005 and February 2006 (intervention period), the LCP was used for all patients for whom the dying phase had started. ⋯ The LCP was used for 197 of them. In the intervention period, the documentation of care was significantly more comprehensive compared with the baseline period, whereas the average total symptom burden was significantly lower in the intervention period. LCP use contributes to the quality of documentation and symptom control.
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Palliative medicine · Mar 2008
Letter Randomized Controlled TrialDoes acupressure help reduce nausea and vomiting in palliative care patients? Pilot study.
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Palliative medicine · Mar 2008
Multicenter StudyDeath rattle: its impact on staff and volunteers in palliative care.
Hospice staff and volunteers frequently hear the sound of death rattle and offer explanations and reassurance to relatives and other patients. This paper describes our study into the impact of hearing the sound of death rattle on hospice staff and volunteers, part of our wider investigation into death rattle. ⋯ Death rattle has a negative impact on staff and volunteers who work with dying patients. This effect may influence their decision to intervene when death rattle occurs. Doctors and nurses need to consider why, when and how they intervene and the consequences of that intervention.