Journal of palliative medicine
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People with serious illness frequently rely on religion/spirituality to cope with their diagnosis, with potentially positive and negative consequences. Clergy are uniquely positioned to help patients consider medical decisions at or near the end of life within a religious/spiritual framework. ⋯ Poor knowledge of EOL care may lead clergy to passively enable congregants with serious illness to pursue potentially nonbeneficial treatments that are associated with increased suffering.
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Comparative Study
Palliative Care Office Hours for Patients with Hematologic Malignancies: an Innovative Model for Symptom Management and Education.
Palliative care programs are experiencing rapid growth, with demand for consults surpassing staffing. Innovative models are needed to equip nonpalliative care providers to manage basic palliative care issues. ⋯ Office hours are an efficient way to address palliative care needs when demand for palliative care consults exceeds capacity. Office hours may serve an educational function as well, enabling primary teams to manage basic palliative care issues with increasing independence over time.
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Palliative care for advanced heart failure (HF) is generally recommended. However, few reports have focused on the particulars of treatment, or the clinical course of HF on a specific treatment regimen. ⋯ With this treatment protocol, there were few HF admissions and patients were able to die at home. It can be used as a guide to therapy, or as an approach that can be tested with additional study.