Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · May 2017
Comparative StudyCaregiver characteristics and bereavement needs: Findings from a population study.
Globally, most care for people with life-limiting illnesses is provided by informal caregivers. Identifying characteristics of caregivers that may have unmet needs and negative outcomes can help provide better support to facilitate adjustment. ⋯ Spousal caregivers are different from other caregivers, with more intense needs that are not fully met. These have implications for bereavement, health and social services.
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Palliative medicine · May 2017
Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: A grounded theory study of palliative care patients' understandings, experiences, and preferences.
Compassion is considered an essential element in quality patient care. One of the conceptual challenges in healthcare literature is that compassion is often confused with sympathy and empathy. Studies comparing and contrasting patients' perspectives of sympathy, empathy, and compassion are largely absent. ⋯ Although sympathy, empathy, and compassion are used interchangeably and frequently conflated in healthcare literature, patients distinguish and experience them uniquely. Understanding patients' perspectives is important and can guide practice, policy reform, and future research.
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Palliative medicine · May 2017
Electronic palliative care coordination systems: Devising and testing a methodology for evaluating documentation.
The need to improve coordination of care at end of life has driven electronic palliative care coordination systems implementation across the United Kingdom and internationally. No approaches for evaluating electronic palliative care coordination systems use in practice have been developed. ⋯ This study reports the first methodology for evaluating how and when electronic palliative care coordination systems documentation is occurring. It raises questions about what can be drawn from routine data collected through electronic palliative care coordination systems and outlines considerations for future evaluation. Future evaluations should consider work processes of health professionals using electronic palliative care coordination systems.