BMC palliative care
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BMC palliative care · Jan 2019
Observational StudyTiming of palliative care referral and aggressive cancer care toward the end-of-life in pancreatic cancer: a retrospective, single-center observational study.
Pancreatic cancer is noted for its late presentation at diagnosis, limited prognosis and physical and psychosocial symptom burden. This study examined associations between timing of palliative care referral (PCR) and aggressive cancer care received by pancreatic cancer patients in the last 30 days of life through a single health service. ⋯ Our findings reaffirm the benefits of early PCR for pancreatic cancer patients to avoid inappropriate care toward the EOL. We suggest that in modern cancer care, there can sometimes be a need to reconsider the use of the term 'aggressive cancer care' at the EOL when the care is appropriately based on an individual patient's presenting physical and psychosocial needs. Pancreatic cancer patients warrant early PCR but the debate must thus continue as to how we best achieve and benchmark outcomes that are compatible with patient and family needs and healthcare priorities.
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BMC palliative care · Jan 2019
Study protocol for a multi-methods study: SAVOIR - evaluation of specialized outpatient palliative care (SAPV) in Germany: outcomes, interactions, regional differences.
Since 2007, the German statutory health insurance covers Specialized Outpatient Palliative Care (SAPV). SAPV offers team-based home care for patients with advanced and progressive disease, complex symptoms and life expectancy limited to days, weeks or months. The introduction of SAPV is ruled by a directive (SAPV directive). Within this regulation, SAPV delivery models can and do differ regarding team structures, financing models, cooperation with other care professionals and processes of care. The research project SAVOIR is funded by G-BA's German Innovations Fund to evaluate the implementation of the SAPV directive. ⋯ Data analysis will allow identification of variables, associated with quality of SAPV. Based on these findings, the SAVOIR study group will develop recommendations for the Federal Joint Committee for a revision of the SAPV directive.
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BMC palliative care · Jan 2019
Caregiver exposure to critical events and distress in home-based palliative care in Germany a cross-sectional study using the Stressful Caregiving Adult Reactions to Experiences of Dying (SCARED) scale.
Lay family caregivers of patients receiving palliative care often confront stressful situations in the care of their loved ones. This is particularly true for families in the home-based palliative care settings, where the family caregivers are responsible for a substantial amount of the patient's care. Yet, to our knowledge, no study to date has examined the family caregivers' exposure to critical events and distress with home-based palliative care has been reported from Germany. Therefore, we attempt to assess family caregiver exposure to the dying patient's critical health events and relate that to the caregiver's own psychological distress to examine associations with general health within a home-based palliative care situation in Germany. ⋯ Family caregivers with home-based palliative care in Germany frequently experience exposure to a large number of critical health events in caring for their family members who are terminally ill. These exposures are associated with the family caregiver's degree of fear and helplessness and are associated with their worse general health. Thus the SCARED Scale, which is brief and easy to administer, appears able to identify these potentially upsetting critical health events among family caregivers of palliative care patients receiving care at home. Because it identified commonly encountered critical events in these patients and related them to adverse general health of family caregivers, the SCARED may add to clinically useful screens to identify family caregivers who may be struggling.
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BMC palliative care · Jan 2019
How to conserve dignity in palliative care: suggestions from older patients, significant others, and healthcare professionals in Swedish municipal care.
An essential aspect of palliative care nursing is to conserve the dignity of the patient. A Dignity Care Intervention (DCI) has been developed in Scotland to facilitate this role for nurses. The DCI is now being adapted to a Swedish context (DCI-SWE) and a central step is to identify culturally relevant, dignity-conserving care actions. These care actions will be incorporated into the DCI-SWE. Therefore, the aim of this study was to suggest care actions for conserving dignity in palliative care from the perspectives of the patients, significant others (SOs), and health care professionals (HPs) in municipality care in Sweden. ⋯ As part of the adaption of the DCI from a Scottish to a Swedish context, this study added relevant care actions for collaborative planning of individualised care in mutual dialogues between nurses and those they care for. The adapted intervention, DCI-SWE, has the potential to help the nurses in providing palliative care of evidence-based quality.
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BMC palliative care · Jan 2019
Potential quality indicators for seriously ill home care clients: a cross-sectional analysis using Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC) data for Ontario.
Currently, there are no formalized measures for the quality of home based palliative care in Ontario. This study developed a set of potential quality indicators for seriously ill home care clients using a standardized assessment. ⋯ Home care clients in Ontario who are seriously ill are experiencing high rates of negative health outcomes, many of which are amenable to change. The RAI-HC can be a useful tool in identifying these clients in order to better understand their needs and abilities. These results contribute significantly to the process of creating and validating a standardized set of QIs that can be generated by organizations using the RAI-HC as part of normal clinical practice.