Articles: palliative-care.
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In people with COPD breathlessness is a common symptom and if mistreated can result in poor physical health and reduced quality of life. While it is important to manage the breathlessness using non-pharmacological management, persistent breathlessness may be treated with opioids. However, some physicians are reluctant to prescribe opioids to manage breathlessness in COPD. ⋯ Research on this topic is mainly comprised of interviews or surveys and is low to moderate quality. Further clinical trials are needed on this topic including the opinions of all prescribing health care professionals involved in the care of these patients. Additionally, guidelines should offer further advice on when to start opioids and which patients would benefit most from opioids.
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JCO oncology practice · Nov 2021
Impact of a Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner in an Oncology Clinic: A Quality Improvement Effort.
Guidelines support early integration of palliative care (PC) into standard oncology practice; however, little is known as to whether outcomes can be improved by modifying health care delivery in a real-world setting. ⋯ Embedding a trained palliative care nurse practitioner in oncology clinics to deliver early integrated PC can lead to improved quality of care for patients with advanced cancer.
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Multicenter Study
Palliative inter-professional learning via cased based tele-videoconference: Experience from the hospice development stage in Taiwan and China.
Palliative care in rural areas can be difficult to assess and, often is of lower quality compared to more densely populated regions. A program of multicenter palliative care discussion forum via tele-videoconference may be a promising tool for exchanging valuable experience and constructing a comprehensive hospice care system in Taiwan and China. The multicenter palliative care discussion forum began 1997 and 2010 in Taiwan and China, respectively. ⋯ In China, the trends and ranking in discussion of nonpain management issues stabilized and showed most frequently in psycho-spiritual issues, followed by social, ethical and legal issues. Sharing palliative experience via tele-videoconferences is an effective tool to improve the quality of care, and also saves a significant amount of time and expense. Experts in different professions from different hospitals should discuss any palliative problems, share their valuable experience, and ponder a comprehensive hospice care.
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Globally there is increasing awareness of the need for end-of-life care and palliative care in hospitalised patients who are in their final year of life. Limited data are available on palliative care requirements in low- and middle-income countries, hindering the design and implementation of effective policies and health services for these patients. ⋯ Despite a median age <60 years at admission, a substantial percentage of patients admitted to public sector hospitals in SA are in the final year of their lives. This finding should be seen in the context of SA's high communicable and non-communicable disease burden and resource-limited public health system, and highlights the need for policy development, planning and implementation of end-of-life and palliative care strategies for hospitals and patients.