Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2013
Trends in the consumption of opioid analgesics in Taiwan from 2002 to 2007: a population-based study.
Morphine consumption is an important indicator of a country's progress in cancer pain relief. However, opioid prescription data are lacking for Taiwan. ⋯ Opioid prescriptions and expenditure increased steadily from 2002 to 2007 in Taiwan, as in nearby Asian countries, but remained much lower than in developed countries. Pethidine (meperidine) was predominantly prescribed to noncancer patients, whereas morphine and fentanyl were mainly prescribed for cancer patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2013
Opioid switching in patients with advanced cancer followed at home. A retrospective analysis.
Opioid switching has been found to improve opioid responsiveness in different conditions. However, data on opioid switching performed at home are almost nonexistent, despite the fact that most patients are followed at home. ⋯ Opioid switching was useful for most patients in the home environment, at least in less complex circumstances, when done by experienced home care teams. Prospective studies are needed to provide information about the decision to admit to hospital for this purpose and the predictive factors that may relatively contraindicate transportation to a facility in severely ill patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2013
Multicenter Study Clinical TrialTrajectories of sleep disturbance and daytime sleepiness in women before and after surgery for breast cancer.
Sleep disturbance is a problem for oncology patients. ⋯ Sleep disturbance is a persistent problem for patients with breast cancer. The effects of interventions that can address modifiable risk factors need to be evaluated.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2013
Growth of an academic palliative medicine program: patient encounters and clinical burden.
Information regarding the challenges of clinical growth and staffing of palliative care programs is limited. ⋯ Over the 10-year history, there has been an increase in the number of patient consultations seen by our palliative care program. The clinical burden was manageable during the first three years but quickly became too burdensome. Active recruitment of new faculty was required to sustain the increased clinical activity.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2013
The relationship between spirituality, psychosocial adjustment to illness, and health-related quality of life in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease.
Spirituality may promote psychosocial adjustment to illness, and this may be a mechanism by which patients with greater existential well-being (EWB) experience better health-related quality of life (HRQL) in the context of life-limiting illness. ⋯ Adjustment in the domains of psychological distress and extended family relationships appears to mediate some of the beneficial effect of EWB on HRQL. Spirituality, however, provides unique variance in patients' HRQL, independent of their psychosocial adjustment. This study testifies to the importance of targeting both psychosocial adjustment to illness and spirituality as ways to preserve or enhance HRQL of predialysis and dialysis patients.