Articles: palliative-care.
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Clinicians frequently order urine drug testing (UDT) for patients on chronic opioid therapy (COT), yet often have difficulty interpreting test results accurately. ⋯ Interpretations were well received by clinicians but did not significantly improve laboratory-clinician interpretation concordance, interpretation documentation frequency, or opioid-prescribing behavior.
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Background: Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) are defined as physical/mental impairments before age 18. Not only are many IDD patients living into adulthood, but deinstitutionalization has also led to most living in community settings. Little is known about end-of-life needs in these adults, and existing literature does not examine attitudes of Canadian providers. Objective: Thematic and content analysis examined attitudes of Canadian Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) practitioners on caring for adults with IDD to identify components of care, which could be improved. Design: An anonymized survey was created (Surveymonkey.com) using open-ended and Likert-scale questions, with thematic/subthematic coding on NVivo11. ⋯ Knowledge ratings of adult palliative care and generalist practitioners by respondents were evenly distributed, but only pediatricians gave ratings of poor or worse. PPC practitioners are comfortable being consulted by adult palliative care and generalist colleagues. However, frequency of consults varied dramatically, from one to two times/month in British Columbia to never. Conclusions: PPC practitioners across Canada identified several major issues and barriers to optimal palliative care for adults with IDD.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Switching Ratio from Parenteral to Oral Methadone 1:1.2 Is Safer Compared with Ratio 1:2 in Patients with Controlled Cancer Pain: A Multicenter Randomized-Controlled Trial (RATIOMTD-010810).
Background: The most commonly used switching ratio from parenteral to oral methadone is 1:2. Methadone is highly bioavailable and a lower ratio might result in similar analgesia with less toxicity. Objective: To compare success and side effects with two ratios from parenteral to oral methadone: 1:2 versus 1:1.2 in hospitalized patients with cancer pain. ⋯ Conclusion: Ratio 1:1.2 when changing from parenteral to oral methadone resulted in lower toxicity and no difference in analgesia. More conservative dose adjustment during methadone route change should be considered. European Clinical Trials Register (EudraCT No. 2010-024092-39).
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Palliative medicine · Mar 2021
Multicenter StudyDevelopment and psychometric validation of the family-centered multidimensional outcome measure for pediatric palliative care targeted to children with severe neurological impairmentis-A multicenter prospective study.
Comprehensive outcome measurement in pediatric palliative care focusing on the entire unit of care, that is, the affected child and its family, is crucial to depict treatment effects. Despite its increasing relevance, no appropriate multidimensional outcome measures exist for the largest patient group in this field, namely children with severe neurological impairments. ⋯ A validated outcome tool for severely neurologically impaired pediatric palliative care patients, the FACETS-OF-PPC, now exists. Due to its concise length and appropriate psychometric properties, it is well suited for clinical application.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2021
ReviewPalliative care in the Greater China region: a systematic review of needs, models and outcomes.
There is rapidly increasing need for palliative care in Greater China because of rapidly aging populations. ⋯ Palliative care services within Greater China should pay more attention to management of nonmalignant disease and to integration into primary services. Policy support is key to establishing culturally appropriate person-centered services.