Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2014
Physician-patient end-of-life care discussions: correlates and associations with end-of-life care preferences of cancer patients-a cross-sectional survey study.
Honoring patients' treatment preferences is a key component of high-quality end-of-life care. Connecting clinical practices to patients' preferences requires effective communication. However, few cancer patients reported discussing end-of-life-care preferences with their physicians. ⋯ Physician-patient end-of-life-care discussions are correlated with accurate prognostic awareness, marital status, and institutional characteristics and negatively associated with terminally ill cancer patients' preferences for aggressive end-of-life care. Interventions should be developed to facilitate timely end-of-life-care discussions between at-risk patients and their physicians, thus honoring patients' end-of-life-care preferences and possibly avoiding futile life-sustaining treatments.
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2014
Palliative care development in Latin America: an analysis using macro indicators.
Recently, the Latin American Association for Palliative Care developed 10 indicators to monitor the development of palliative care and enhance the development of regional and national strategies. ⋯ Most of the Latin American Association for Palliative Care indicators are useful for assessing national levels of palliative care development. These indicators may be applicable to other world regions. Additional studies are needed to evaluate the specificity of each indicator.
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Palliative medicine · Dec 2014
What is the incidence of patients with palliative care needs presenting to the Emergency Department? a critical review.
Given the context of ageing populations globally, there are a growing number of patients with chronic conditions, some of whom are in the final stages of their disease trajectory, presenting to Emergency Departments. ⋯ There is an absence of evidence regarding the incidence of patients with palliative care needs presenting to the Emergency Department. Further research needs to be undertaken in this area to ensure both clinicians and policymakers have sufficient information for service provision.