Articles: palliative-care.
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Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may lead to a rapid decline in health and subsequent death, an unfortunate tyranny of having COPD-an irreversible health condition of 16 million individuals in the USA totaling 60 million in the world. While COPD is the third largest leading cause of death, causing 3.23 million deaths worldwide in 2019 (according to the WHO), most patients with COPD do not receive adequate treatment at the end stages of life. ⋯ Here, we summarized the current understanding and treatment of COPD. This review also highlights the importance of patient-centered discussion and summarizes current status of managing patients with advanced COPD.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2022
Participatory development of a modular advance care planning program in pediatric palliative care (MAPPS).
Decision-making in pediatric palliative care concerns mainly children without decision-making capacity. It has to balance the child's best interests, parental responsibility and the impact on the family system. ⋯ Parents and professionals combined their perspectives on reflecting goals of care and the complexity of pedACP. They perceived the resulting modular program as suitable for meeting the individual needs of patients, families and professional stakeholders.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2022
Perspectives of Remote Volunteer Palliative Care Consultants during COVID: A Qualitative Study.
A novel remote volunteer program was implemented in response to the initial COVID-19 surge in New York City, allowing out-of-state palliative care specialists to serve patients and families in need. No study has detailed the perceptions of these consultants. ⋯ This study provides an in-depth look at the experiences of remote volunteer palliative care consultants during the initial COVID-19 surge from the unique perspectives of the consultants themselves. Participants expressed overall positive and meaningful experiences and felt that the model was appropriate given the circumstances. Additionally, participants provided recommendations that could guide future implementations of similar programs.
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2022
Palliative care needs and models of care for people who use drugs and/or alcohol: A mixed methods systematic review.
Providing palliative care for individuals who use alcohol and/or drugs poses a multi-faceted challenge. In addition to clinical and social needs, individuals may endure mental health problems, co-morbidities and homelessness, thus requiring a multi-disciplinary, flexible approach to care. ⋯ Despite end-of-life needs of this population being different to others, challenges include creating inclusive policies, sensitising staff to distinctive individual needs and training exchanges for staff working in both drug and alcohol services and palliative care.
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Planning for end of life (EOL) care has become an important consideration for doctors and patients in the context of longer life expectancy in most high-income countries. Advance care plans (ACPs) allow individuals to make plans for future healthcare practices for when they no longer have the capacity to make such decisions. It has been suggested that general practitioners (GPs) have the ideal relationship with patients to facilitate this process. However, the uptake of ACPs still remains low, prompting the need to understand the views of GPs regarding ACPs. ⋯ In order to improve their implementation, workshops and courses should be developed to increase GPs' knowledge and confidence. Additionally, the healthcare system should be adapted, supporting GPs to facilitate these important discussions to take place.