International journal of palliative nursing
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In one inpatient palliative care unit falls were identified as a frequent and distressing, yet potentially avoidable, concern. The unit had the highest rate of falls in this long-term care setting, exceeding even that of dementia care units. No literature could be identified that examined falls in the palliative care population. ⋯ Analysis was conducted comparing risk factors of those patients who fell once and those who fell multiple times. It was found that advanced age, longer length of stay and a previous history of falls might be risk factors for future falls. Patients who fell multiple times had less symptom distress than patients who fell once.
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The dominant professional understanding of good death is death where symptoms are controlled, the inevitability of death has been accepted and preparations have been made leading to peace for all involved. It seems surprising, in a pluralistic society, that there might be such a clear common understanding of good death. ⋯ The concept of good death is perhaps a reduction of the acceptable way to care for a dying person. The concept of 'personally ideal death' is proposed as a refinement of good death that recognizes that the beliefs and values of each individual influences what they understand to be acceptable death.