Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Nov 2002
ReviewHow well do general practitioners deliver palliative care? A systematic review.
General practitioners (GPs) deliver the majority of palliative care to patients in the last year of life. This article seeks to examine the nature of GP care, perceptions of the GPs themselves and others of that care, the adequacy of palliative care training, issues relating to accessibility of GPs to palliative care patients, and strategies that may be of use in encouraging more effective delivery of palliative care by GPs. Medline and PubMed databases from 1966 to 2000 were searched, and 135 references identified. ⋯ GP comfort working with specialist teams increases with exposure to this form of patient management, as does the understanding of the potential other team members have in contributing to the care of the patient. Formal arrangements engaging GPs to work with specialist teams have been shown to improve functional outcomes, patient satisfaction, improve effective use of resources and improve effective physician behaviour in other areas of medicine. Efforts by specialist services to develop formal involvement of GPs in the care of individual patients, may be an effective method of improving GP palliative care skills and appreciation of the roles specialist services can play.
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Palliative medicine · Nov 2002
Self-reports are not related to objective assessments of cognitive function and sedation in patients with cancer pain admitted to a palliative care unit.
Cancer patients often report complaints of cognitive impairment and sedation. It is not well known if subjective complaints reflect objective assessments of cognitive function (CF) and sedation. We obtained self-reports of sedation and CF from 29 patients admitted to a palliative care unit and receiving morphine treatment. ⋯ The study demonstrates a lack of relationship between patient self-reports and objective methods for assessing sedation and cognitive failure. This finding illustrates the importance of differentiating between observations and patient self-reports. The results also question the validity of patient self-reports for measurements of cognitive failure and sedation.
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Palliative medicine · Nov 2002
Case ReportsPalliative venting gastrostomy in malignant intestinal obstruction.
This retrospective clinical study reports on the experience of palliative venting gastrostomy (PVG) in an integrated acute teaching hospital and hospice-based palliative care service over a seven-year period (1989-97). PVG was performed for 51 patients with refractory nausea and vomiting resulting from varying degrees and levels of persisting or intermittent malignant bowel obstruction. There were 32 females and 19 males; the mean age was 61 years (range 25-86 years). ⋯ Twenty patients were discharged home, and six died at home. In a small group of highly selected patients, for whom pharmacological measures failed to palliate the effects of malignant bowel obstruction, PVG was shown to be a safe and effective means of abolishing or substantially improving vomiting. Provided that the intervention is appropriate to the given clinical situation and acceptable to the patient, it should be considered.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2002
Practice Guideline GuidelineUsing anti-muscarinic drugs in the management of death rattle: evidence-based guidelines for palliative care.
The management of 'death rattle' was reviewed by a task group on behalf of the Association for Palliative Medicine's Science Committee. Evidence was searched for the effectiveness of various anti-muscarinic drugs in drying oropharyngeal and bronchial secretions in dying patients. Clinical guidelines were constructed based on evidence from volunteer and clinical studies. ⋯ Volunteer studies demonstrate that intramuscular glycopyrronium 400 microg is as effective in drying secretions at 30 min as a dose of 200 microg given intravenously. Duration of response is shortest for hyoscine butylbromide (1 h) and longest for glycopyrronium (more than 6 h). There is insufficient evidence to support the use of one drug over another in a continuous infusion and prescribers should base decisions on different characteristics of each anti-muscarinic drug.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2002
Multicenter StudyDifferences in understanding of specialist palliative care amongst service providers and commissioners in South London.
This paper describes a study that sought to identify service providers' and commissioners' understanding of specialist palliative care within the context of changing service provision in one area of South London. Using a formative evaluation framework, we examined the views of 44 providers and commissioners from statutory and voluntary health and social care services about their understanding of specialist palliative care services and, in particular, the remit of current service provision delivered by a Marie Curie Centre. Face-to-face audiotaped semi-structured interviews were conducted. ⋯ The study took place within the real world context of changing services and economic pressures. This raises methodological issues about how services are evaluated and what terminology is used to describe end-of-life care. The study findings confirm that confusion about terminology and referral criteria remain major issues for clinical workers and organizations seeking to access services.