Articles: palliative-care.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jul 2020
Too much or too little opioids to patients receiving opioid agonist therapy in Norway (2013-2017): a prospective cohort study.
Dispensations of opioid analgesics to patients on opioid agonist therapy (OAT) may increase the risk of overdoses. The current study's objectives are to investigate the dispensation rates and mean daily doses of dispensed opioid analgesics among patients who received OAT opioids in Norway during 2013-2017 and evaluate whether discontinuing OAT opioids affects the dispensed dose of opioid analgesics. ⋯ Reducing the dispensation of opioid analgesics can be achieved by increasing the OAT opioid dose for patients on a low OAT dose, and by extending the period needed to taper off the OAT opioid dose at discontinuation.
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BMC palliative care · Jul 2020
Validation of the Japanese version of the barriers questionnaire II in cancer pain management: a cross-sectional study.
The Barriers Questionnaire II (BQ-II) was developed to assess barriers to effective pain management. In this study, we aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the newly developed Japanese version of the BQ-II (JBQ-II). ⋯ The JBQ-II is a valid and reliable measure of patient-related barriers to pain management among Japanese adult patients with cancer.
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Jul 2020
ReviewScarce-Resource Allocation and Patient Triage During the COVID-19 Pandemic: JACC Review Topic of the Week.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its sequelae have created scenarios of scarce medical resources, leading to the prospect that health care systems have faced or will face difficult decisions about triage, allocation, and reallocation. These decisions should be guided by ethical principles and values, should not be made before crisis standards have been declared by authorities, and, in most cases, will not be made by bedside clinicians. ⋯ Transparent and clear communication is crucial, coupled with dedication to provide the best possible care to patients, including palliative care. As medical knowledge about COVID-19 grows, more will be known about prognostic factors that can guide these difficult decisions.