Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2018
Retraction Of PublicationThe Palliative Care Journey In Kenya And Uganda.
Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other physical, psychosocial, and spiritual problems. This update is aimed at examining palliative care development/achievements and challenges in Kenya and Uganda and the role of various actors in palliative care establishment in the region. It assesses the policy environment, progress in education, access to essential medicines, palliative care implementation efforts, and legal and human rights work. ⋯ All these conditions will require palliative care services as the disease burden increases. Unfortunately, for many African countries, accessing palliative care services, including access to pain relief, remains very limited resulting in serious suffering for patients and their families. The interventions in Kenya and Uganda help palliative care organizations engage with their respective governments to ensure that the social and legal barriers impeding access to palliative care services are removed.
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The Hospice Palliative Care Association (HPCA) was established in 1987 by hospices in South Africa who felt the need for a national body to share best practices and to promote palliative care services in South Africa. HPCA supports member hospices in providing palliative care to people of any age with a life-limiting condition. ⋯ A key initiative was the development of a mentorship program to assist organizations to develop accredited palliative care services in South Africa. This article highlights some of the HPCA projects funded over the years by the Open Society Foundations' International Palliative Care Initiative.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2018
Meta AnalysisDrugs for treating opioid-induced constipation: A mixed treatment comparison network meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials.
Opioid-induced constipation is a common problem associated with chronic use of opioid analgesics. ⋯ Subcutaneous methyl naltrexone was found to perform better than other interventions for managing opioid-induced constipation.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Feb 2018
Determining Palliative Care Penetration Rates in the Acute Care Setting.
Intermountain Healthcare, in collaboration with Cerner Corporation, developed a hospital-based electronic palliative care algorithm. ⋯ This study successfully optimized an electronic palliative care identification algorithm with a PPV of 80.1% and indicates appropriate palliative care penetration rates may be as high as 26.4% of the total inpatient population.