Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2013
Awareness of incurable cancer status and health-related quality of life among advanced cancer patients: a prospective cohort study.
Many patients near death report an interest in knowing their prognoses. Patients' awareness of disease status may lead to more appropriate care and maintained or improved quality of life. However, it is not known whether advanced cancer patients' awareness of disease status is associated with patients' quality of life. ⋯ Our findings demonstrate the importance of patients' awareness of disease status to HRQOL.
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2013
Patient-perceived usefulness and practical obstacles of patient-held records for cancer patients in Japan: OPTIM study.
Although the use of a patient-held record (PHR) for cancer patients has been introduced in many settings, little is known about the role of the PHR in palliative care settings and use in Asian cultures. ⋯ The PHR can be helpful in facilitating communication, understanding medical conditions and treatments, and facilitating end-of-life care discussion; however, for wide-spread implementation, resolving the obstacles related to both patients and health-care professionals is required.
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2013
Evaluating palliative care ward staffing using bed occupancy, patient dependency, staff activity, service quality and cost data.
Palliative care staffing has remained unchallenged for decades while service provision has changed markedly, bringing new workforce demands. There is little evidence to inform hospice workforce structures, which strive to deliver the highest-quality holistic care. ⋯ This dataset provides evidence-based recommendations to inform palliative care nursing workforce modelling, including deciding future nursing workforce size and mix based on rising workloads. The new dataset is suitable for use in UK hospice wards and may be appropriate for future international use.
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2013
Review Meta AnalysisSocial-cultural factors in end-of-life care in Belgium: a scoping of the research literature.
As end-of-life (EoL) care expands across Europe and the world, service developments are increasingly studied. The sociocultural context in which such changes take place, however, is often neglected in research. ⋯ Various sociocultural factors influence the provision of EoL care in Belgium. This country provides a unique opportunity to witness how euthanasia is put into practice when legalized, in a context where palliative care is also highly developed and where many health care institutions have Catholic affiliation, providing an important example to others. Attention to how the sociocultural context affects EoL care adds to the current evidence base of service provision, which is essential in the further development of EoL care.