Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2023
Observational StudyThe financial costs of anticipatory prescribing: A retrospective observational study of prescribed, administered and wasted medications using community clinical records.
The prescribing of injectable end-of-life anticipatory medications ahead of possible need is recommended best practice. The financial costs of these medications have been little studied. ⋯ The costs of prescribed and unused anticipatory medications were higher than previously reported but remain modest. Usage of prescriptions was lower than previously documented. There may be scope to reduce the quantity of vials that are routinely prescribed without adversely affecting care; further research is needed to investigate this possibility.
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2023
Health care professional recruitment of patients and family carers to palliative care randomised controlled trials: A qualitative multiple case study.
Trial participant recruitment is an interactional process between health care professionals, patients and carers. Little is known about how clinicians carry out this role in palliative care trials and the reasons why they do or do not recruit participants. ⋯ Those planning trials need to ensure that trial recruiters, depending on their experience and trial characteristics, have access to training and support to address the 'emotional labour' of recruitment. The type of training required requires further research.
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2023
Mutual support between patients and family caregivers in palliative care: A qualitative study.
Patients in receipt of palliative care services are often viewed primarily as recipients of support from their family caregiver. There is a dearth of evidence in palliative care on what comprises mutual support between patients and their family caregivers in palliative care. ⋯ The findings inform the development and delivery of psychosocial interventions for patients and family caregivers in palliative care aimed at facilitating supportive relations between them.
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2023
Family carer experiences of hospice care at home: Qualitative findings from a mixed methods realist evaluation.
Hospice-at-home aims to enable patients approaching end-of-life to die at home and support their carers. A wide range of different service models exists but synthesised evidence on how best to support family carers to provide sustainable end-of-life care at home is limited. ⋯ Carers in hospice-at-home services identified care to be of a higher quality than generic community services. Hospice staff were perceived as having 'time to care', communicated well and were comfortable with dying and death. Hands-on care was particularly valued in the period close to death.