Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2012
Quality improvement in cancer symptom assessment and control: the Provincial Palliative Care Integration Project (PPCIP).
The Provincial Palliative Care Integration Project (PPCIP) was implemented in Ontario, Canada, to enhance the quality of palliative care delivery. The PPCIP promoted collaboration and integration across service sectors to improve screening and assessment, palliative care processes, as well as clinician practice and outcomes for cancer patients. ⋯ The PPCIP demonstrated that significant strides in symptom screening and response can be achieved within a year using rapid-cycle change and collaborative approaches. It showed that both short- and long-term improvement require ongoing facilitation to embed the changes in system design and change the culture of clinical practice.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2012
Talking about end-of-life preferences with advanced cancer patients: factors influencing feasibility.
The End-of-Life Preferences Interview (ELPI) was developed with the purpose of supporting physicians in communicating with advanced cancer patients. ⋯ Results indicate that discussing end-of-life preferences in an earlier disease phase, such as in the OU setting, could be preferable but that its accomplishment in this setting may be more difficult, mainly as a result of organizational reasons. This observation could indicate that the system is not yet ready to offer patients such an opportunity and although communication on these sensitive issues cannot be reduced to a procedure, the ELPI can become a useful tool to help physicians in accomplishing this difficult task.
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PC-FACS (Fast Article Critical Summaries for Clinicians in Palliative Care), an electronic publication of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, provides palliative care clinicians with concise summaries of the most important findings from more than 50 medical and scientific journals. Each month, structured summaries and insightful commentaries on 6-10 articles help palliative care clinicians stay on top of the research that is critical to contemporary practice. PC-FACS is free to AAHPM members. Following are excerpts from recent issues, and comments from readers are welcomed at resources@aahpm.org.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialInhaled fentanyl citrate improves exercise endurance during high-intensity constant work rate cycle exercise in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Activity limitation and dyspnea are the dominant symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Traditionally, efforts to alleviate these symptoms have focused on improving ventilatory mechanics, reducing ventilatory demand, or both of these in combination. Nevertheless, many patients with COPD remain incapacitated by dyspnea and exercise intolerance despite optimal therapy. ⋯ Single-dose inhalation of fentanyl citrate was associated with significant and potentially clinically important improvements in exercise tolerance in COPD. These improvements were accompanied by a delay in the onset of intolerable dyspnea during exercise near the limits of tolerance.