Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2016
Using Markov Multistate Models to Examine the Progression of Symptom Severity Among an Ambulatory Population of Cancer Patients: Are Certain Symptoms Better Managed Than Others?
Patient-reported assessments of symptom severity can assist providers in monitoring and managing symptoms for cancer patients, which is important for offering patients optimal cancer care. Understanding which symptoms deteriorate at a faster rate over time can help identify areas for improving symptom management. ⋯ The availability of numerous medications for treating nausea, compared to fatigue and well-being, may be a reasonable explanation for our findings. Alternate management for these symptoms, such as exercise for reducing fatigue, should be investigated to improve patients' quality of life. The use of multistate modeling methods is also unique in the study of symptom progression and provides a more in-depth understanding of the likelihood of symptom deterioration and improvement over time.
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Compassion is frequently referenced as a hallmark of quality care by patients, health care providers, health care administrators, and policy makers. Despite its putative centrality, including its institution in recent health care reform, an empirical understanding based on the perspectives of patients, the recipients of compassion, is lacking-making compassion one of the most referenced yet poorly understood elements of quality care. ⋯ The components of the compassion model provide insight into how patients understand and experience compassion, providing the necessary empirical foundation to develop future research, measures, training, and clinical care based on this vital feature of quality care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2016
Methodological Research Priorities in Palliative Care and Hospice Quality Measurement.
Quality measurement is a critical tool for improving palliative care and hospice, but significant research is needed to improve the application of quality indicators. We defined methodological priorities for advancing the science of quality measurement in this field based on discussions of the Technical Advisory Panel of the Measuring What Matters consensus project of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association and a subsequent strategy meeting to better clarify research challenges, priorities, and quality measurement implementation strategies. ⋯ We then apply these concepts to the key quality domain of advance care planning and address relevance to implementation of indicators in improving care. Developing the science of quality measurement in these key areas of palliative care and hospice will facilitate improved quality measurement across all populations with serious illness and care for patients and families.
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PC-FACS(FastArticleCriticalSummaries for Clinicians inPalliativeCare) provides hospice and palliative care clinicians with concise summaries of the most important findings from more than 100 medical and scientific journals. If you have colleagues who would benefit from receiving PC-FACS, please encourage them to join the AAHPM at aahpm.org. Comments from readers are welcomed at pc-facs@aahpm.org.