Articles: palliative-care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2021
ReviewApproaching the end of their lives under blue lights and sirens - scoping review.
Emergency medical services (EMS) are frequently responding to calls involving patients in advanced stages of incurable diseases. Despite the competencies and potential of EMS in supporting patients and their families facing symptoms of advanced progressive illnesses, the role of EMS in providing palliative care remains unclear. ⋯ There are limited data on the incidence of EMS calls to the patients at the end-of-life and no data focusing on the EMS dispatch centres. Both paramedics and emergency physicians are aware of their role in the end-of-life care. EMS personnel are lacking special training and education in the palliative care. Cooperation between palliative care providers, the EMS providers and other out-of-hours services might improve the responsiveness of the health care system to needs and expectations of patients and their families, and possibly improve the overall health care system efficiency.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Dec 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialImpact of Standardized Educational Intervention on Improvement in Analgesic Knowledge and Its Compliance among Patients of Advanced Cancer Patients Attending Palliative Clinic: Prospective Randomized Study.
Patient education is a low-cost intervention that can help in improving the knowledge and compliance regarding analgesics. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the standardized educational intervention on knowledge regarding analgesic, its compliance, and barriers to compliance among advanced cancer patients attending palliative care clinic. In this randomized control trial, 100 advanced cancer patients with pain were randomly allocated to two groups. ⋯ There was also a statistically significant decrease in barriers to compliance in the experimental group as compared to the control group. A significant correlation between the knowledge and compliance score at 4 weeks in the experimental group was found with a Karl Pearson correlation coefficient, r = 0.628 (p = 0.001). The standardized educational intervention was found to be effective in improving the analgesic knowledge and analgesic compliance among cancer patients with pain at 2 and 4 weeks follow up as compared to the usual care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2021
What Affects Adoption of Specialty Palliative Care in Intensive Care Units: A Qualitative Study.
Although many patients with critical illness may benefit from involvement of palliative care specialists, adoption of these services in the intensive care unit (ICU) is variable. ⋯ This conceptual framework identifying distinct phases of adoption may assist institutions aiming to foster sustained adoption of specialty palliative care in an ICU setting.
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Stroke is a common cause of long-term disability and death, which leaves many patients with significant and unique palliative care (PC) needs. Shared decision-making for patients with stroke poses distinct challenges due to the sudden nature of stroke, the uncertainty inherent in prognostication around recovery, and the common necessity of relying on surrogates for decision-making. Patients with stroke suffer from frequently underrecognized symptoms, which PC clinicians should feel comfortable identifying and treating. This article provides 10 tips for palliative clinicians to increase their knowledge and comfort in caring for this important population.
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Background: Despite recent growth in access to specialty palliative care (PC) services, awareness of PC by patients and caregivers is limited and misconceptions about PC persist. Identifying gaps in PC knowledge may help inform initiatives that seek to reduce inequities in access to PC in rural areas. Objective: We compared knowledge of PC in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas of the United States using a nationally representative sample of U. ⋯ Misconceptions about PC were high in both metro and nonmetro areas. Conclusion: Awareness of PC was lower in rural and micropolitan areas compared with metropolitan areas, suggesting the need for tailored educational strategies. The reduced awareness of PC among Hispanic respondents regardless of rural status raises concerns about equitable access to PC services for this population.