Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2011
Impact of a palliative care consultation team on cancer-related symptoms in advanced cancer patients referred to an outpatient supportive care clinic.
Patients with advanced cancer may develop severe physical and psychosocial symptoms. There are limited data on the impact of an outpatient palliative consultation (PC) team on cancer-related symptoms. ⋯ The initial consult by PC achieved significant symptom improvement in patients receiving treatment in the OPC. Further prospective studies are needed.
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Efforts to improve care for nursing home residents stand to be enhanced by measures to assess the degree to which staff provide palliative care. As the incidence of death in nursing homes increases with the aging population, the gap in measurement must be addressed. To that end, we report the development and psychometric testing of a nursing home palliative care survey. ⋯ The PCS measures the extent to which the nursing home staff engage in palliative care practices and have knowledge consistent with good end-of-life care. Both practice and knowledge are an essential foundation to providing good end-of-life care to nursing home residents. Efforts to improve care for the dying in nursing homes have been slowed by an absence of measurement tools that capture care processes, a gap that the PCS reported here helps fill.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2011
Aggressive end-of-life care significantly influenced propensity for hospice enrollment within the last three days of life for Taiwanese cancer decedents.
Late hospice enrollment exacts a substantial toll from patients, families, hospices, and society. The relationship between the propensity for late hospice enrollment and aggressive health services received at the end of life (EOL) has been underinvestigated. ⋯ Aggressive EOL care played a more significant role than patient, physician, or hospital characteristics in determining the propensity of Taiwanese cancer patients to be enrolled in hospice care within their last three days of life. Clinical and health policies should aim to avoid aggressive care when it will not benefit patients but may preclude timely hospice enrollment.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2011
Letter Comparative StudyNeuropathic pain is a common feature in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2011
Multicenter StudyChange in cancer pain management in Korea between 2001 and 2006: results of two nationwide surveys.
In Korea, many health care professionals have shown increased concern about the management of cancer pain. Five years after a pain management guideline was distributed to Korean physicians, the Korean Society of Hospice and Palliative Care evaluated the change in cancer pain management. The period evaluated was between 2001 and 2006. ⋯ Some improvement in cancer pain management was noted during the five years between 2001 and 2006. However, all of the physicians who care for cancer patients should pay more attention to cancer pain management, and an educational program for cancer pain management should be distributed to all of the physicians who care for cancer patients.