Articles: palliative-care.
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Internal medicine journal · Oct 2021
Palliative care physicians' preparation and planning for the implementation of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act in Victoria.
In November 2017, the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Act was passed enabling people with a progressive terminal illness to end their life voluntarily. Heated debate abounded including, to some extent within palliative care, which was also challenged with developing processes around the legislation enactment. ⋯ A description of the key elements of these discussions may be useful to others who may yet face similar circumstances with the introduction of VAD legislation.
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Palliative medicine · Oct 2021
Sleeping-related distress in a palliative care population: A national, prospective, consecutive cohort.
Sleep, a multi-dimensional experience, is essential for optimal physical and mental wellbeing. Poor sleep is associated with worse wellbeing but data are scarce from multi-site studies on sleeping-related distress in palliative care populations. ⋯ This large, representative study of palliative care patients shows high prevalence of sleeping-related distress, with strong associations shown to distress from other symptoms including pain, breathlessness and fatigue.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2021
An Exploratory Study of Demographics and Outcomes for Patients Seen by Specialist Palliative Care Social Work in the Inpatient Setting at an Academic Medical Center.
Specialist palliative care social work (PCSW) across a four-team palliative care (PC) service in the inpatient setting at a tertiary academic medical center. ⋯ Involvement of PCSW increased dramatically over the study period. Compared to the rest of the PC team, when PCSW was involved, length of stay was longer, whole-person care components were more likely to be addressed, dyspnea was significantly improved, and pain was significantly worse when compared to those consults not seen by PCSW. Other symptoms such as nausea and anxiety as well as discharge characteristics such as death or hospice discharge were not significantly different with involvement of PCSW.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2021
Outcomes of Specialty Palliative Care Interventions for Patients with Hematologic Malignancies: A Systematic Review.
The outcomes of specialty palliative care (PC) interventions for patients with hematologic malignancies (HMs) is under-investigated. ⋯ Specialty PC interventions improve healthcare outcomes for patients with HMs and should be implemented early and often. There remains a need for additional studies investigating PC use exclusively in patients with HMs.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2021
Changing Institutional Culture Around Hospice Using LEAN Tools to Improve Hospice Utilization in a Veteran Population.
Longer hospice length of stay improves the palliation of symptoms, quality of life, and the dying process for patients and their caregivers. We used a Lean designed Rapid Improvement Event (RIE) to facilitate earlier entry into hospice. ⋯ LEAN tools can be used successfully to improve end of life outcomes in an inpatient VA setting. The 90-day sustainment period following the RIE uncovers barriers to implementation and allows for adjustments to implementation.