Journal of palliative medicine
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In Germany since 2007 patients with advanced life-limiting diseases are eligible for Specialized Outpatient Palliative Care (SOPC). To provide this service, SOPC teams have been established as a new facility in the health care system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of one of the first SOPC teams based at the Munich University Hospital. ⋯ The involvement of an SOPC team leads to a significant improvement in the quality of life of patients and caregivers and can lower the burden of home care for the caregivers of severely ill patients.
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Equal access to end-of-life care is important. However, social inequality has been found in relation to place-of-death. The question is whether social and economic factors play a role in access to specialist palliative care services. ⋯ We found an association between females, married patients, and female immigrants and their descendants and access to an SPCT in Denmark. However, no association with the examined economic factor was found. Need for specialized health care, which is supposed to be the main reason for access to an SPCT, may be related to economic imbalance; and despite the relative equality found, SPCT access may not be equal for all Danish residents. Further research into social and economic consequences in palliative care services is warranted.
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With global aging and scientific advances extending survival, the number of adults experiencing multiple chronic conditions has grown substantially and is projected to increase by another third between 2000 and 2030. Among the many challenges posed by multimorbidity, some of the most pressing include how to characterize and measure comorbid conditions, understand symptoms and illness burden, and provide person-centered care in the context of competing health care priorities and increasing complexity. In this white paper emanating from a National Institute on Aging supported conference to discuss research gaps at the geriatrics-palliative care interface, the authors review common definitions of multimorbidity; describe the association between multimorbidity and quality of life, functional status, quality of care, and health care utilization; note content and methodological gaps in multimorbidity evidence; and make recommendations regarding research priorities in this area of expanding public health impact.
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Some domains of the questionnaires used to measure symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in patients with advanced cancer seem to measure similar dimensions or constructs, so it would be useful for clinicians to demonstrate the interchangeability of equivalent domains of the questionnaires in measuring the same constructs. ⋯ BPI, POS, and RSCL have shown adequate reliability and moderate concurrent validity among them.
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Delivery of bad news is a challenging task for physicians and other health care professionals. Several studies have assessed parental perceptions of the delivery of bad news, but none have focused on the role of physicians' interpersonal behaviors in the communication process. ⋯ To increase parental satisfaction and enhance the parent-physician therapeutic partnership, we recommend that physicians consider attending to the 11 interpersonal behaviors described in this manuscript, and that educational programs pay particular attention to these behaviors when training health care providers in the communication of bad news.