International journal of palliative nursing
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Ongoing education and training is essential in health care, particularly in palliative care, which is still expanding both in terms of its global reach and its scope. Children's palliative care (CPC) is a specialty in its own right, but one that is still relatively new, and so appropriate and ongoing education and training of CPC staff is especially important. ⋯ This paper discusses CPC education and training from a European and global perspective, highlighting some of the principles and challenges. It also looks at the recent efforts of the European Association for Palliative Care and the International Children's Palliative Care Network to attain a clearer picture of the state of global CPC education, presenting some initial findings from their research and discussing preliminary recommendations and future directions.
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Children's palliative care (CPC) is a specialty in itself, albeit closely related to adult palliative care (World Health Organization (WHO), 2002). However, although there are many children who require palliative care, in much of the world CPC has a poor profile and is inaccessible to those who need it (Downing et al, 2010; Knapp et al, 2011). ⋯ It has been estimated that as many as 7 million of these children around the world will need palliative care each year (Rushton et al, 2002), although the true figure is likely to be higher. The public health approach to palliative care is key to the development of CPC services, as is the development of models that integrate services into existing health structures.
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Depression is a common psychological condition among patients at the end of life, and it can also affect a patient's family both before and after their loved one's death. It is estimated that around 25% of palliative care patients are diagnosed with depression during their illness, and that a majority experience depressive symptoms. ⋯ Palliative care staff play an essential part in recognizing and treating depression in patients, and by focusing on those at risk they can help to reduce the number who will go on to develop the condition. This article provides an overview of the nature of the problem in palliative care patients and bereaved families, looking at how targeted monitoring and intervention can help to alleviate the burden in the former and how support can benefit the latter.
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Dion Smyth's review of the internet for palliative nursing.
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St Columba's Hospice, Edinburgh, is a busy specialist palliative care unit with 30 inpatient beds. A previous publication reported the first strand of a qualitative exploratory study evaluating the impact of open visiting on patients at the hospice. ⋯ Several strategies for developing a flexible and 'patient-controlled' visiting policy were identified, including quiet times without visitors, restriction of visitor numbers in shared rooms, and encouraging breaks from visiting. Since the study was completed, the hospice's visiting policy has been modified to ensure that it is patient-centred and meets the needs of patients and families.