Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2012
Case ReportsUnique manifestations of catecholamine release in malignant pheochromocytoma: an experience within an inpatient palliative care unit.
Malignant pheochromocytoma is a rare disorder. We describe the case of a 41-year-old female with disseminated metastatic pheochromocytoma who was admitted for ongoing palliative and supportive care within an inpatient palliative care unit. ⋯ The potential for metoclopramide to worsen symptoms also was a significant component of management. The case presents rare features of this unusual disease and is unique for its setting within the confines of a palliative care unit.
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In advanced disease, the management of symptoms and lifestyle are essential for the maintenance of patients' quality of life. Appropriate education by health professionals can help patients to better manage their disease. Although the provision of education by health professionals for patients with advanced cancer is reasonably well documented, much less is known about how health professionals facilitate education with patients with other advanced progressive diseases. ⋯ Health professionals identify and acknowledge a range of factors that influence their ability to deliver education to patients with advanced disease. The types of circumstantial factors identified in this review can influence the successful delivery of educational interventions and need to be considered when such interventions are being developed.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2012
Illness perceptions, adjustment to illness, and depression in a palliative care population.
Representations of illness have been studied in several populations, but research is limited in palliative care. ⋯ Assessment of illness perceptions in palliative care is likely to yield important information about risk of depression and will help clinicians to personalize management of advanced disease.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2012
An assessment of the screening performance of a single-item measure of depression from the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale among chronically ill hospitalized patients.
Few studies have examined the validity of using a single item from the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) for screening for depression. ⋯ These single-item measures were not effective in screening for probable depression in chronically ill patients regardless of the time frame or the response format used, but a cutoff of ≥ 5 or "mild" or greater did achieve sufficient specificity to raise clinical suspicion.