Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jun 2023
ReviewThe associations between prognostic awareness and health-related quality of life among patients with advanced cancer: A systematic review.
Prognostic awareness among patients with advanced cancer is important for better palliative and end-of-life care. However, the relationships between prognostic awareness and patient health-related quality of life outcomes remain inconsistent across studies. Critically synthesizing empirical literature will allow for a better understanding of these associations. ⋯ To facilitate better understanding of the relationships between prognostic awareness and health-related quality of life, future research must focus on developing a standardized, "gold standard" measurement of prognostic awareness. Research should also examine the influence of culture and the evolution of these relationships longitudinally.
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Palliative medicine · Jun 2023
Randomized Controlled TrialThe effect of an integrated palliative care intervention on quality of life and acute healthcare use in patients with COPD: Results of the COMPASSION cluster randomized controlled trial.
COPD causes high morbidity and mortality, emphasizing the need for palliative care. ⋯ We found no evidence that palliative care improves quality of life in patients with COPD. However, it can potentially reduce acute healthcare use. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic led to suboptimal implementation and insufficient power, and may have affected some of our findings.
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Palliative medicine · Jun 2023
Communication in the context of glioblastoma treatment: A qualitative study of what matters most to patients, caregivers and health care professionals.
Patients with glioblastoma have a poor prognosis and treatment is palliative in nature from diagnosis. It is therefore critical that the benefits and burdens of treatments are clearly discussed with patients and caregivers. ⋯ In glioblastoma treatment communication, where prognosis is poor and treatmentwill not result in cure, building trusting relationships, maintaining a sense of control and being well-informed are identified as critical.
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Palliative medicine · Jun 2023
Spiritual, religious, and existential concerns of children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions: A qualitative interview study.
Despite being a core domain of palliative care, primary data on spiritual and existential concerns has rarely been collected among children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and their families. Existing evidence has tended to focus on the religious aspects among children with cancer. ⋯ Addressing spiritual concerns is essential to providing child- and family-centred palliative care. Eliciting spiritual concerns may enable health and social care professionals to identify the things that can support and enhance a meaningful life and legacy for children and their families.
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Palliative medicine · Jun 2023
'The palliative care ambulance': A qualitative study of patient and caregiver perspectives of an ambulance service.
The need for home-based palliative care is accelerating internationally. At the same time, health systems face increased complexity, funding constraints and global shortages in the healthcare workforce. As such, ambulance services are increasingly tasked with providing palliative care. Where paramedics with additional training in palliative care have been integrated into models of care, evaluations have been largely positive. Studies of patient and family carer experiences of paramedic involvement, however, are limited. ⋯ Patients and carers feel safe and secure when they know that highly responsive skilled professional support is available when an unexpected problem or sudden change arises, especially out-of-hours, and that support is delivered in an empathic and person-centred manner.