Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2018
Psychological morbidity and general health among family caregivers during end-of-life cancer care: A retrospective census survey.
Family carers provide vital support for patients towards end-of-life, but caregiving has considerable impact on carers' own health. The scale of this problem is unknown, as previous research has involved unrepresentative samples or failed to fully capture caregiving close to death. ⋯ Levels of psychological morbidity among family carers during end-of-life caregiving are far higher than indicated by previous research, indicating a substantial public health problem. Consistent assessment and support for carers to prevent breakdown in caregiving may produce cost savings in long term.
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2018
The 'safe death': An ethnographic study exploring the perspectives of rural palliative care patients and family caregivers.
In rural settings, relationships between place and self are often stronger than for urban residents, so one may expect that rural people would view dying at home as a major feature of the 'good death'. ⋯ Safety, in this study, is related to a familiar place for death. A home death is not essential for and does not ensure a 'good death'. We all have a responsibility to ensure all places for dying can deliver the 'safe death'. Future research could explore the inter-relationships between safety and preference for home or home-like places of death.
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2018
Quality of care for the dying across different levels of palliative care development: A population-based cohort study.
There is a lack of knowledge about how the provision and availability of specialized palliative care relates to the quality of dying in hospital and community-based settings. ⋯ The capacity of specialized palliative care does not per se influence the quality of care during the last week of life for patients in other settings.
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2018
Quality of dying and quality of end-of-life care of nursing home residents in six countries: An epidemiological study.
Nursing homes are among the most common places of death in many countries. ⋯ The quality of dying and quality of end-of-life care in nursing homes in the countries studied are not optimal. This includes countries with high levels of palliative care development in nursing homes such as Belgium, the Netherlands and England.