Journal of palliative medicine
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Review
Communication About Dying, Death, and Bereavement: A Systematic Review of Children's Literature.
Children's books have the potential to facilitate communication about death for children living with a serious illness and for children coping with the death of a loved one. ⋯ Storybooks can be a helpful tool to introduce communication about dying and death with children. Gaps exist in current children's literature to effectively enable children to reflect on their own dying process. A general summary of available books is provided to assist those caring for children and families facing end-of-life issues.
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Research into the key themes and concepts of quality of life (QOL) relevant to the end-of-life (EOL) care of pediatric cancer patients in the Japanese context is imperative. ⋯ Although the respondents in this study were medical care providers rather than the patients or their family members, findings should help medical staff provide better palliative care to Japanese pediatric cancer patients.
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The physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST) form allows seriously ill individuals to express their preferences for end-of-life treatments. Despite increased POLST use, little is known about the quality of completed forms. ⋯ We found 30.4% of POLST forms for nursing home residents were not complete or documented clinically contradictory treatment preferences. Improvement in the quality of POLST forms is needed.
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Chronic critical illness (CCI) patients have poor functional outcomes, high risk of mortality, and significant sequelae, including delirium and cognitive dysfunction. The prognostic significance of persistent delirium in patients with CCI has not been well described. ⋯ Further studies of the prevalence and outcomes of prolonged or persistent agitated delirium in patients with chronic critical illness are needed to provide prognostic information that can assist patients and families in receiving care that accords with their goals and values.