Articles: palliative-care.
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With absence of a cure, the mainstay of management for patients with motor neurone disease (MND) is holistic supportive care and symptom control. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) can provide relief from distressing dyspnoea which often accompanies progressive respiratory muscle weakness. Some patients using NIV will become dependent on it, with a small proportion of these patients going on to request withdrawal. Despite being legal in the UK, elective withdrawal of NIV can be emotionally and ethically challenging for the staff involved. To guide the process of symptom-controlled withdrawal, in 2015 the Association for Palliative Medicine (APM) released clinical guidance. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) involved in elective withdrawal of NIV in an MND cohort following the publication of this guidance. ⋯ Elective withdrawal is highly emotive, simultaneously positively and negatively influencing staff well-being. By addressing the potential mitigating factors, the overall impact on staff's mental health and well-being maybe improved and thus, subsequently, patient care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2024
Should an acute palliative care unit be mandatory for cancer centers and tertiary care hospitals?
Acute palliative care units have been developing in the last years and their clinical activity and characteristics have been described, despite large differences in different countries. One controversial topic is whether such units should be mandatory as standard in comprehensive cancer centers or even in tertiary hospitals. ⋯ Interestingly, all three experts arrived at similar conclusions. They underscored the importance of an acute palliative care unit, which provides a different pattern of activities in comparison with typical inpatient hospices, generally caring for patients who have a limited expected survival.
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Palliative medicine · Oct 2024
ReviewEfficacy of spiritual interventions in palliative care: An umbrella review of systematic reviews.
Spiritual care is increasingly recognised as an essential component of care in palliative settings. Given this growing body of literature on spiritual interventions, there is a need to systematically evaluate and synthesis findings from previous systematic reviews. ⋯ Overall, spiritual care interventions have positive effects on spiritual wellbeing, quality of life and mood, compared to control conditions. Increased methodological rigour is needed to capture effect and duration of effect with spiritual care interventions at different phases of palliative care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2024
Parent Views on Parent & Child-reported Outcomes in Pediatric Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Study.
Research on concurrent parent and patient-reported outcomes has primarily focused on reaching agreement. However, little is known about how to interpret and address discrepancies, which are not uncommon, between both viewpoints. ⋯ gov NCT03408314.