Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2018
Multicenter StudyPain in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Multicenter Study.
Pain is a common complaint in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients yet is often inadequately assessed and undertreated. ⋯ Pain is common in MHD patients and is significantly associated with female gender, comorbidity, time on dialysis, and depression. Results of this study may serve as a starting point for palliative interventions for MHD patients.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2018
Secondary Traumatization and Proneness to Dissociation Among Palliative Care Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Exposure to dying patients can contribute to secondary traumatic stress (STS) among palliative care workers. Peritraumatic dissociation (PETD), an individual's personal proneness to dissociation during exposure to a stressful event, is the strongest predictor of post-traumatic stress, but existing research on its relationship to STS is limited. ⋯ The clinical level of PETD correlates significantly with STS. Further research is needed to understand whether STS is related to the individual's own vulnerability, as reflected by their personal proneness to dissociation, during exposure to death and dying.
-
Therapeutic Reviews aim to provide essential independent information for health professionals about drugs used in palliative and hospice care. Additional content is available on www.palliativedrugs.com. Country-specific books (Hospice and Palliative Care Formulary USA, and Palliative Care Formulary, British and Canadian editions) are also available and can be ordered from www.palliativedrugs.com. The series editors welcome feedback on the articles (hq@palliativedrugs.com).
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2018
Comparative StudyAn Analysis of Palliative Care Development in Africa: A Ranking Based on Region-Specific Macroindicators.
To date, there is no study comparing palliative care (PC) development among African countries. ⋯ Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya are the highest performing countries and were the only ones with composite scores greater than 0.5 (50%). However, not one country universally supersedes all others across all four PC dimensions. The breakdown of rankings by dimension highlights where even high-performing African countries can focus their efforts to further PC development.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2018
Transition Points for the Routine Integration of Palliative Care in Patients With Advanced Cancer.
Increasing emphases are being placed on early integration of palliative care for patients with advanced cancers, yet barriers to implementation in clinical practice remain. Criteria to standardize referral have been endorsed, but their application is yet to be tested at the population level. ⋯ Despite calls for integrated palliative care, this occurs late or not at all for many patients with cancer. Our findings demonstrate the application of targeted cancer-specific transition points to trigger integration of palliative care as a standard part of quality oncological care and augment clinician-based referral in routine clinical practice.