Articles: palliative-care.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2021
Case ReportsShoulder pain in a patient with renal cell carcinoma? Suprascapular neuropathy caused by bone metastasis of renal cell carcinoma: A case report.
Pain management is crucial in palliative care for patients with advanced cancer. Here, we report a case of shoulder pain in a patient with renal cell carcinoma. ⋯ More research is expected on development of an early surveillance model, barriers to cancer pain management, communication from patients' perspectives.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2021
Clinicians' delirium treatment practice, practice change, and influences: A national online survey.
Recent studies cast doubt on the net effect of antipsychotics for delirium. ⋯ Clinicians' use of antipsychotic during delirium remains common and is primarily motivated by distress and safety concerns for the patient and others nearby. Supporting clinicians to achieve evidence-based delirium practice requires further work.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2021
Drug information needs of health care professionals in palliative care: a retrospective evaluation of a palliative care drug information service.
Drug therapy is an integral part of palliative care but pharmacotherapy can be challenging for health care professionals. Access to information is essential for health care providers to choose the best drug treatment for an individual patient. A drug information service can support health care professionals to obtain appropriate, unbiased information. ⋯ The information needs on palliative care pharmacotherapy seem to be particularly high among physicians. The demand for information in the area of application technology is particularly apparent and demonstrates a therapeutic gap in terms of availability of suitable preparations as well as necessary information.
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Context: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, New York City's public hospitals experienced a significant increase in the number of critically ill patients, especially from minority populations. The palliative care consult service at Bellevue Hospital, therefore, adjusted rapidly to meet the increased needs of our patients and colleagues. Objectives: To describe the dynamic palliative care needs during a public hospital's COVID-19 surge, including a process to utilize nonpalliative care trained volunteers to meet the increased demand for inpatient palliative care consults. ⋯ Conclusion: The inpatient palliative care consult service structure adapted rapidly in response to the increased need for advanced care planning and support throughout the hospital during the COVID-19 surge. Focusing on three key areas of surge staffing, support, and scale resulted in expert coordination with the hospital and system level leadership, efficient training of volunteer providers, and frequent re-evaluation of response strategies. These elements were vital in allowing the palliative care team to harness the expertise of various volunteer providers to meet the increased demands of a safety net hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2021
The association between ethnicity, socioeconomic deprivation and receipt of hospital-based palliative care for people with Covid-19: A dual centre service evaluation.
People from ethnic minority groups and deprived socioeconomic backgrounds have worse outcomes from COVID-19. ⋯ This large service evaluation showed no evidence that patients from ethnic minority or more deprived socioeconomic groups had longer time to palliative care referral. Ongoing data monitoring is essential for equitable service delivery.