Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2013
The selection and use of outcome measures in palliative and end-of-life care research: the MORECare International Consensus Workshop.
A major barrier to widening and sustaining palliative care service provision is the requirement for better selection and use of outcome measures. Service commissioning is increasingly based on patient, carer, and service outcomes as opposed to service activity. ⋯ Outcome measurement in palliative and end-of-life care requires the use of psychometrically robust measures that are clinically responsive, with defined data collection time points to establish a baseline and clear administration guidelines to complete proxy measures. To further the field requires clinical imperatives to more closely inform recommendations on outcome measurement.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2013
Psychosocial consequences of cancer cachexia: the development of an item bank.
Cancer cachexia syndrome (CCS) is often accompanied by psychosocial consequences (PSC). To alleviate PSC, a systematic assessment method is required. Currently, few assessment tools are available (e.g., Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy). There is no systematic assessment tool that captures the PSC of CCS. ⋯ The final item bank contains questions that are understood and accepted by the patients. This item bank now needs to be developed into a measurement tool that groups items into domains and can be used in future research studies.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2013
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyClinically important differences in the intensity of chronic refractory breathlessness.
Clinically important differences in chronic refractory breathlessness are ill defined but important in clinical practice and trial design. ⋯ This larger dataset supports a clinically important difference of 10mm. Studies should be powered to detect this difference.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2013
Validation of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System in Korean patients with cancer.
The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) is a brief, widely adopted, multidimensional questionnaire to evaluate patient-reported symptoms. ⋯ The K-ESAS is a valid and reliable tool for measuring multidimensional symptoms in Korean patients with cancer.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2013
Dynamic preferences for site of death among patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic heart failure, or chronic renal failure.
To die at the preferred site is a key principle of a good death. ⋯ Preferences for site of death may change in patients with advanced chronic organ failure. Future studies should explore whether and to what extent discussing the possibilities for the site of end-of-life care as a part of advance care planning can prepare patients and relatives for in-the-moment decision making and improve end-of-life care.