Journal of pain and symptom management
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The maintenance of dignity is an important concept in palliative care, and the loss of dignity is a significant concern among patients with advanced cancer. ⋯ The prevalence of a problematic loss of dignity among patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is at least as high as among those receiving palliative cancer care. Loss of dignity may represent a concern among people with medical illnesses more broadly, and not just in the context of "death with dignity" at the end of life. Furthermore, interdisciplinary care may help to restore a sense of dignity to those individuals who are able to participate in rehabilitation.
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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 https://webmail.chpnet.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=ae2e0d47fa6f479a8024736a8d3c95b1&URL=mailto%3apc-facs%40aahpm.orgpc-facs@aahpm.org.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2016
Characterizing the Hospice and Palliative Care Workforce in the U.S.: Clinician Demographics and Professional Responsibilities.
Palliative care services are growing at an unprecedented pace. Yet, the characteristics of the clinician population who deliver these services are not known. Information on the roles, motivations, and future plans of the clinician workforce would allow for planning to sustain and grow the field. ⋯ Palliative care clinicians are a heterogeneous group. We identified motivations for entering the field that can be leveraged to sustain and grow the workforce.
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Palliative care clinicians (PCCs) are vulnerable to burnout as a result of chronic stress related to working with seriously ill patients. Burnout can lead to absenteeism, ineffective communication, medical errors, and job turnover. Interventions that promote better coping with stress are needed in this population. ⋯ Our findings suggest that a novel team-based resiliency intervention based on elicitation of the relaxation response was feasible and may help promote resiliency and protect against the negative consequences of stress for PCCs.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Mar 2016
Advance Care Discussions: Pediatric Clinician Preparedness and Practices.
Few data exist regarding clinician preparedness to participate in advance care discussions (ACD) and the practices surrounding these discussions for children with life-threatening conditions. ⋯ Many clinicians believe they are prepared to participate in ACD, but practices are not consistent with expert recommendations for optimal ACD. Educational interventions aimed at improving clinician knowledge, attitudes, and behavior, and greater clinician support may enhance health care provider ACD preparedness and skills.