Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
ReviewFeasibility and Pilot Studies in Palliative Care Research: A Systematic Review.
Feasibility and pilot study designs are common in palliative care research. Finding standard guidelines on the structure and reporting of these study types is difficult. ⋯ The terms "feasibility" and "pilot" are used synonymously in palliative care research when describing studies that test for feasibility. Few studies in palliative care research outline clear criteria for success. The assessment of participant acceptability and burden is uncommon. A gold standard for feasibility study design in palliative care research that includes both clear criteria for success and testing of the study protocol for participant acceptability and burden is needed. Such a standard would assist with consistency in the design, conduct and reporting of feasibility and pilot studies.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Validation of the Persian version of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI-P) in chronic pain patients.
Chronic pain needs to be evaluated with a standard instrument. The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) is a pain assessment tool that has been validated in many languages. ⋯ The present study demonstrated that the Persian version of the BPI could be a valid and reliable instrument for pain assessment in Persian-speaking patients.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Multicenter StudyImpact of Undertreatment of Cancer Pain with Analgesic Drugs on Patient Outcomes: A Nationwide Survey of Outpatient Cancer Patient Care in Taiwan.
Undertreatment of cancer pain among outpatient cancer patients needs to be addressed to enhance care and improve patients' quality of life (QoL). ⋯ One-third of Taiwanese outpatients experienced pain because of undertreatment. Awareness of the prevalence of undertreatment of cancer pain and identification of the vulnerable subjects may assist in enhancing patient care and improving patient's QoL.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Randomized Controlled TrialPerceived Family Functioning Predicts Baseline Psychosocial Characteristics in U.S. Participants of a Family Focused Grief Therapy Trial.
Screening and baseline data on 170 American families (620 individuals), selected by screening from a palliative care population for inclusion in a randomized controlled trial of family-focused grief therapy, were examined to determine whether family dysfunction conferred higher levels of psychosocial morbidity. We hypothesized that greater family dysfunction would, indeed, be associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes among palliative care patients and their family members. ⋯ As predicted, significantly greater levels of individual psychosocial morbidity were present in American families whose functioning as a group was poorer. Support was generated for a clinical approach that screens families to identify those at high risk. Overall, these baseline data point to the importance of a family-centered model of care.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Observational StudyOff-label Medication Use in the Inpatient Palliative Care Unit.
Although off-label medications are frequently prescribed in palliative care, there are no published studies examining their use in the U.S. ⋯ One-third of prescription events in the APCU were off-label, with majority of off-label use having a strong level of supporting evidence. Our findings highlight the need for more research in key areas such as delirium and dyspnea management.