Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Sep 2001
Communication with terminal cancer patients in palliative care: are there differences between nurses and physicians?
The aim of this study was to find whether there were interprofessional differences in specific elements of communication with terminal cancer patients and decision-making processes that concern such patients. Given that interdisciplinary team work is one of the basic values in palliative care, if there are conflicting views between professions on such important issues it is most important to know about these and to understand them. A questionnaire utilized in an earlier survey of palliative care physicians and addressing their attitudes to and beliefs about specific elements of communication and decision making was sent to a sample of palliative care nurses working in the same regions, i.e. the French-speaking parts of Switzerland, Belgium and France. ⋯ There was general agreement between nurses and physicians on questions dealing with perceptions of patients' knowledge of their diagnosis and stage of disease, patients' need for information, "do not resuscitate" orders and ethical principles in decision-making processes. Statistically significant, but small, differences between professional groups were only observed for a minority of the questions. Interprofessional differences in specific elements of communication with terminal cancer patients and decision-making processes affecting these patients were not so marked that they could be called "conflicting interprofessional views."
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Support Care Cancer · Sep 2001
ReviewTerminal sedation in palliative medicine--definition and review of the literature.
This paper reviews the reported use of nonopioid medications for terminal sedation. To provide a summary of the available literature, an electronic database search was performed. Thirteen series and 1 4 case reports were identified. ⋯ A good response--defined as adequate sedation--ranged between 75% and 100%. The median time to death following the introduction of terminal sedation was greater than 1 day. No agent appears to have superior efficacy or limiting toxicity.