Articles: palliative-care.
-
Sociodrama is a powerful teaching strategy that combines a case study approach with traditional role-play methodology to illustrate critical issues in end-of-life care. Building on principles of adult learning and communication skills, the sociodrama method enables the skilled facilitator to draw on the learner's past experiences as resources for teaching and reflective practice. This article describes the use of sociodrama in end-of-life education with illustrations from actual sessions including key discussion points, a typical instructional plan and staging tips.
-
In order to estimate the prevalence of palliative care programs in academic hospitals in the United States, we surveyed a random sample of 100 hospitals in the Council of Teaching Hospitals and Health Systems directory. Sixty percent of hospitals provided information. At least 26% of hospitals had either a palliative care consultation service or inpatient unit and 7% had both. ⋯ In comparison, almost half of hospitals noted established pain services. In conclusion, palliative care programs, although found in a minority of surveyed hospitals, are becoming an established feature of academic medical centers in the United States. More detailed information is needed about the type and quality of care they provide.
-
In the United States, the majority of deaths occur in the hospital but the dying process there is at best unsatisfactory and more likely inadequate for both patients and caregivers. The development of hospital-based palliative care programs (HBPCPs) can vastly improve inpatient end-of-life care. This study is the first to examine the prevalence and characteristics of HBPCPs in the United States, thus providing a snapshot of the characteristics of these HBPCPs. ⋯ They tend to be based in oncology, general medicine, and geriatrics. We also assessed reasons for consultation, patient characteristics, and future development needs. These findings can help guide future funding, educational, and programming efforts in hospital-based palliative care.
-
Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2001
ReviewPalliative radiotherapy regimens for non-small cell lung cancer.
Palliative radiotherapy (RT) to the chest is often used in patients with lung cancer, but RT regimens are more often based on tradition than research results. ⋯ The majority of patients should be treated with short courses of palliative RT, of 1 or 2 fractions. Care should be taken with the dose to the spinal cord. The use of high dose palliative regimens should be considered for and discussed with selected patients with good PS. More research is needed into reducing the acute toxicity of large fraction regimens and into the role of radical compared to high dose palliative RT and more homogeneous studies are needed.
-
At Children's Hospital of Wisconsin there is a pediatric palliative care consultation service that serves a diverse patient population, including infants. However, the value of a palliative care consultation for infants has not been well evaluated. We performed a retrospective, case series, descriptive chart review of infants in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) who received palliative care consults between January 1996 and June 1998. ⋯ Recommendations that the palliative care staff made fell into four categories: advance directive planning, the optimal environment for supporting neonatal death, comfort and medical care, and psychosocial support. This series is a description of what a palliative care service can offer for terminally ill infants in an NICU. We speculate that such consults can more consistently and comprehensively provide appropriate end-of-life care for these patients and their families.