Articles: palliative-care.
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In the past two decades, virtual reality (VR) technology has found use in a variety of clinical settings including pain management, physical medicine and rehabilitation, psychiatry, and neurology. However, little is known about the utility of VR in the palliative care setting. Moreover, previous investigations have not explored user perceptions of the VR experience in this population. ⋯ Acute changes in symptom burden were assessed using the revised Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale. Participants found the VR experience to be both enjoyable and useful, and the intervention was well-tolerated overall. This study provides support for VR as a promising new therapeutic modality for patients undergoing palliative care.
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Endocrine-related cancer · Sep 2020
ReviewThe impact of COVID-19 on and recommendations for breast cancer care: the Singapore experience.
The ensuing COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented and daunting challenges to the routine delivery of oncological and supportive care to patients with breast cancer. Considerations include the infective risk of patients who are inherently immunosuppressed from their malignancy and therapies, long-term oncological outcomes from the treatment decisions undertaken during this extraordinary period, and diverted healthcare resources to support a coordinated whole-of-society outbreak response. ⋯ These recommendations have been developed within the unique context of Singapore's public healthcare sector. They can serve as a resource to guide breast cancer management for future contingencies in this city-state, while certain elements therein may be extrapolatable to other medical systems during this global public health emergency.
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Support Care Cancer · Sep 2020
Effect of an electronic quality checklist on prescription patterns of prophylactic antiemetic and pain flare medications in the context of palliative radiotherapy for bone metastases.
International guidelines are available to guide prescription of antiemetic and pain flare medications in patients receiving palliative radiotherapy for bone metastases, but prescription rates are quite variable. We hypothesized that a simple electronic quality checklist could increase the evidence-based use of these medications. ⋯ Our data shows that a simple quality checklist item can have a significant effect on the evidence-based use of prophylactic antiemetic and pain flare medications in patients treated with palliative radiotherapy for bone metastases. We believe such strategies should be routinely included in other clinical pathways to improve the use of symptom control medications.
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BMJ Support Palliat Care · Sep 2020
Anticipatory prescribing in community end-of-life care in the UK and Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic: online survey.
Anticipatory prescribing (AP) of injectable medications in advance of clinical need is established practice in community end-of-life care. Changes to prescribing guidelines and practice have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic for UK community palliative care has stimulated rapid innovation in AP. The extent to which these are implemented and their clinical efficacy need further examination.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2020
The Urgency of Spiritual Care: COVID-19 and the Critical Need for Whole-Person Palliation.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has amplified the importance of palliative care to countless patients suffering with and dying from this disease, as well as to their families, communities, and the worldwide cadre of overburdened health care workers. Particularly urgent is the need for spiritual care specialists and generalists to address spiritual suffering given the degree of isolation, loneliness, and vulnerability caused by this pandemic. ⋯ All disciplines are ultimately responsible for ensuring that spiritual care is prioritized to improve quality of life and the experience of patients and families facing spiritual emergencies amid the complex life-and-death scenarios inherent to coronavirus disease 2019. Although the pandemic has revealed serious fault lines in many health care domains, it has also underscored the need to recommit to spiritual care as an essential component of whole-person palliative care.