Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Multicenter StudyPretreatment information on dysphagia: exploring the views of head and neck cancer patients.
Swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) are a common acute and chronic side effect of head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment. Dysphagia is associated with medical concerns such as malnutrition and pulmonary health as well as quality of life outcomes. Providing information on the likely changes to swallowing is an important component of pretreatment preparation. There is little research providing the patients' perspective in this area. ⋯ Patients require information on the impact and prognosis for their swallowing ability. There was a general preference for verbal information, from someone knowledgeable about dysphagia. However, there are also individual preferences for the manner and pace at which this information is delivered. Further research is indicated to explore ways of providing information that is individually tailored to patients' needs and preferences.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Comparative StudyDescriptions by general practitioners and nurses of their collaboration in continuous sedation until death at home: in-depth qualitative interviews in three European countries.
One palliative care approach that is increasingly being used at home for relieving intolerable suffering in terminally ill patients is continuous sedation until death. Its provision requires a multidisciplinary team approach, with adequate collaboration and communication. However, it is unknown how general practitioners (GPs) and home care nurses experience being involved in the use of sedation at home. ⋯ We found variety among the countries studied regarding the decision making and provision of continuous sedation until death at home. These differences, among others, may be the result of different organizational contexts in the three countries such as the use of anticipatory medication in the U.K.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Initial validation of the Death and Dying Distress Scale for the assessment of death anxiety in patients with advanced cancer.
The experience of death anxiety in patients with advanced cancer has been understudied partly because of the lack of a tailored measure for this population. The Death and Dying Distress Scale (DADDS) was constructed to address this gap. Although an initial version of this instrument has shown promising psychometric properties, validation of the finalized version is needed. ⋯ The DADDS is a valid measure of death anxiety in patients with advanced cancer. It may provide useful information in the assessment and treatment of distress in patients near the end of life.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Why people accept opioids: role of general attitudes toward drugs, experience as a bereaved family, information from medical professionals, and personal beliefs regarding a good death.
Many surveys have evaluated patient-related barriers to pain management. ⋯ More than 90% of bereaved families whose relatives were treated with opioid analgesics reported a preference to receive opioid analgesics for the treatment of cancer pain, if necessary, in the future.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Reduction of acute hospital admissions and improvement in outpatient attendance by intensified renal palliative care clinic follow-up: the Hong Kong experience.
End-stage renal failure patients often fail to attend scheduled renal palliative care clinic (RPCC) follow-up because of acute hospital admissions, causing negative impact on patients' well-being and health care burden. ⋯ Our pilot results suggested that intensifying RPCC follow-up minimized the utilization of acute medical services and improved outpatient attendance at RPCC.