Journal of palliative medicine
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Deficiencies in end-of-life education may explain nursing students' reports of feeling anxious and unqualified to care for dying patients. A volunteer Palliative Care Companion program was developed to provide undergraduate nursing students with an experiential learning opportunity by spending time with dying patients and their families. ⋯ The Palliative Care Companion program did not produce significant improvements in knowledge and concerns compared to controls, but companion students described their participation as a meaningful learning experience.
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Promoting Excellence in End-of Life Care, a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, funded 22 demonstration projects representing a wide range of health care settings and patient populations to develop innovative models for delivering palliative care that addressed documented deficiencies in the care of patients and families facing the final stage of life. ⋯ The 22 Promoting Excellence in End-of Life Care projects demonstrated that by individualizing patient and family assessment, effectively employing existing resources and aligning services with specific patient and family needs, it is possible to expand access to palliative services and improve quality of care in ways that are financially feasible and acceptable to patients, families, clinicians, administrators, and payers.
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The attitudes, beliefs, and experience of physicians will influence how they view the use of opioids for chronic nonterminal pain. ⋯ This preliminary survey showed consensus among physicians that highly aberrant behaviors indicate a failure of chronic opioid therapy. However, when considering less egregious behaviors, it would appear a physician's experience and the number of patients they had taking opioids influenced their opinion.
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Studies show that African Americans are less likely than other ethnic groups to complete advance directives. However, what influences African Americans' decisions to complete or not complete advance directives is unclear. ⋯ The dissemination of information apprises individuals of their right to self-determine about their care, but educational efforts may not produce a significant change in behavior toward completion of advance care planning. Thus, ongoing efforts are needed to improve the trust that African Americans have in medical and health care providers.