BMJ supportive & palliative care
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BMJ Support Palliat Care · Sep 2019
Age, cancer site and gender associations with symptoms and problems in specialised palliative care: a large, nationwide, register-based study.
Patients referred to specialised palliative care are troubled by symptoms/problems, but more knowledge is needed on the level and frequency of symptoms/problems. It is also uncertain how gender, age and cancer diagnosis, respectively, are associated with symptoms/problems. ⋯ At the start of specialised palliative care, patients with cancer experience severe levels of symptoms, poor physical function and poor quality of life. Age, gender and diagnosis were significantly associated with most symptoms/problems, but the strength and direction of the associations differed across symptoms/problems.
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Sleep is often disturbed in patients with advanced cancer. There is limited knowledge about sleep in patients with cancer treated with strong opioids. This study examines sleep quality in patients with advanced cancer who are treated with a WHO Step III opioid for pain. ⋯ The majority (78%) of these patients with cancer treated with Step III opioids experienced poor sleep quality. Pain intensity, emotional function, constipation, financial difficulties and KPS predicted poor PSQI global scores. The clinical implication is that healthcare personnel should routinely assess and treat sleep disturbance in patients with advanced cancer disease.
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BMJ Support Palliat Care · Sep 2019
Case ReportsIntravenous methadone in a patient with advanced cancer.
A patient receiving maintenance treatment with methadone (MTM) was treated with parenteral methadone for intense pain crises in cancer of the tongue with severe mucositis and dysphagia. Authors like Manfredi et al describe good results in the use of methadone as an analgesic in patients with MTM. The difficulties which arise with parenteral use derive from the drug itself and from those to whom the treatment is administered: serious side effects like malignant arrhythmias and respiratory depression and the complex nature of these patients, addicted to opiates with a terminal illness and pain which is difficult to treat. It should be administered by experts in palliative care in a healthcare unit where it can be successfully monitored.
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BMJ Support Palliat Care · Sep 2019
Nationwide survey on volunteers' training in hospice and palliative care in Poland.
Volunteers working in hospice and palliative care facilities in Poland undertake various activities which are performed in accordance with legal regulations and the individual policies of each hospice. The aim of this study was to explore the roles and training of volunteers working in hospice and palliative care settings. ⋯ Overall, proper training was an essential requirement needed to be fulfilled by volunteers, particularly when involved in direct patient support. Most volunteers were simultaneously involved in various areas of service; therefore, their training should be comprehensive.
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BMJ Support Palliat Care · Sep 2019
Multicenter Study Observational StudyPrognosis prediction with two calculations of Palliative Prognostic Index: further prospective validation in hospice cancer patients with multicentre study.
In palliative care settings, predicting prognosis is important for patients and clinicians. The Palliative Prognostic Index (PPI), a prognostic tool calculated using clinical indices alone has been validated within cancer population. This study was to further test the discriminatory ability of the PPI (ie, its ability to determine whether a subject will live more or less than a certain amount of time) in a larger sample but with a palliative care context and to compare predictions at two different points in time. ⋯ This study showed improved discriminatory ability using the PPI score calculated between day 3and day5 of admission compared with that calculated on admission. This study further validated PPI as a prognostic tool within a palliative care population and showed recording at two time points improved accuracy.