Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Jan 2010
Cancer pain as the presenting problem in emergency departments: incidence and related factors.
Since emergency departments (ED) are designed to manage people with urgent and life-threatening conditions, cancer patients presenting with pain may not receive the appropriate care in the ED. The purpose of this study was to identify the incidence and factors related to ED visits by cancer patients with pain complaints. ⋯ Effective cancer pain management programs need to be developed and tested to reduce ED visits by cancer patients with pain. More research is needed to explore why cancer patients with pain visit the ED.
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Assessment of current practice with a valid set of indicators is the key to successfully improving the quality of patient-centred care. For improvement purposes, we developed indicators of patient-centred cancer care and tested them on a population of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ⋯ Developing a valid set of patient-centred indicators is a first step towards improving the patient centredness of cancer care. Indicators can be based on recommendations from guidelines, but adding patient opinions leads to a more complete picture of patient centredness. The practice test on patients with NSCLC showed that the patient centredness of cancer care can be improved. Our set of indicators may also be useful for future quality assessments for other patients with cancers or chronic diseases.
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Support Care Cancer · Jan 2010
Efficacy and safety of deep, continuous palliative sedation at home: a retrospective, single-institution study.
The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of palliative sedation at home (PSH) to approach refractory symptoms in dying cancer patients. ⋯ A midazolam-based protocol for PSH is feasible and effective. Our results need to be confirmed by prospective, multicentric, controlled studies.