International journal of palliative nursing
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On World Hospice and Palliative Care Day-8 October 2011-the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance (WPCA) launched a global update highlighting the progress that has been made in hospice and palliative care over the past 5 years (Lynch et al, 2011; WPCA 2011). Encouragingly, the study shows that there has been a marked increase in the number of countries providing one or more hospice and palliative care services-from 49% of countries in 2006 to 58% in 2011. Here we explore some of the key factors behind this progress, focusing particularly on advocacy and policy.
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Palliative care in Malaysia developed in the 1990s to improve the quality of life of people with advanced cancer. Like many other countries, Malaysia faces its own challenges in providing palliative care to patients and their families. In Malaysian culture, families play a significant part in providing care to the dying. Connecting with families in patient care is therefore important. This paper reports a focused literature review evaluating studies on the care of the families of terminally ill people in palliative care environments in Malaysia. ⋯ The studies indicate the importance of the nurse-family interaction in providing optimal and culturally appropriate palliative care. This paper emphasizes the need for research into the nurse's role in family care and for developing a theory appropriate to the Malaysian culture and other countries with cultural diversity.
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Over recent years there have been several political imperatives in the UK directed toward children's palliative care and ensuring that services are high-quality, coordinated, family-centred, and able to meet the needs of children with complex disabilities. In addition, in 2010 the health and social care regulation authority in England-the Care Quality Commission (CQC)-aligned hospices with regulation and inspection requirements. ⋯ CHaL educators worked with a research team to develop a unified strategy that was based on evidence of good practice, embedded in required CQC outcomes, and validated with a wider audience. The resultant strategy contains a set of four key learning and development principles that are applicable and transferable across different hospices.