Articles: palliative-care.
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Palliative care for persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) is developing. However, little is known about the experiences of patients with PD in the palliative phase and of their family caregivers. ⋯ Patients with PD experienced many difficulties in daily living. Patients seems to adapt to living with PD as they rated their quality of life as moderate to positive. Family caregivers became experts in the care for their loved one, but often learned on their own. An early implementation of the palliative care approach can be beneficial in addressing the needs of patients with PD and their family caregivers.
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Pain is a common complaint in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, and it is often inadequately assessed and inappropriately treated. ⋯ According to the PMI, most dialysis patients were found to be inappropriately treated. About one third received opioids, but even among them, inappropriate treatment was common. Pain management in MHD patients needs to be improved.
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Int J Health Policy Manag · Sep 2021
Prohibit, Protect, or Adapt? The Changing Role of Volunteers in Palliative and Hospice Care Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Multinational Survey (Covpall).
Volunteers are common within palliative care services, and provide support that enhances care quality. The support they provided, and any role changes, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are unknown. The aim of this study is to understand volunteer deployment and activities within palliative care services, and to identify what may affect any changes in volunteer service provision, during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Volunteers were mostly prevented from supporting many forms of palliative care which may have quality and safety implications given their previously central roles. Volunteer re-deployment plans are needed that take a more considered approach, using volunteers more flexibly to enhance care while ensuring safe working practices. Consideration needs to be given to widening the volunteer base away from those who may be considered to be most vulnerable to COVID-19.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2021
What's Lost in Translation: A Dialogue-based Intervention that Improves Interpreter Confidence in Palliative Care Conversations.
For US patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), diversity of language and culture can create potential health care disparities in discussions of prognosis and goals of care. Although professional medical interpreters are often thought of as language conduits, they are also trained as clarifiers and mediators of cultural barriers between providers, patients and their families. Identifying interpreter challenges in Palliative Care (PC) conversations and brainstorming and rehearsing solutions could improve their confidence interpreting PC encounters and being cultural mediators. ⋯ This dialogue-based intervention eliciting ongoing interpreter challenges, with PC social work facilitation and role-play with PC clinicians in a mutually respectful environment, significantly improved interpreter confidence in partnering with clinicians in PC conversations.
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Background: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) has a high mortality rate and significantly impacts survivors' quality of life. Objective: To assess impact of specialty palliative care services (sPCS) among patients hospitalized with aSAH. Design: A retrospective cohort study using the National Inpatient Sample (2017-2018). ⋯ Those with sPCS involvement had shorter lengths of stay (p < 0.05) and nonsignificantly lower hospital charges. Conclusion: sPCS involvement, inferred by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) code Z51.5, was associated with shorter length of stay and lower hospital charges among survivors, but this did not meet prespecified statistical significance. There may be significant benefits to consulting sPCS for patients hospitalized with aSAH.