Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
Opioid prescription denials by community pharmacies for cancer-related pain: A case series.
Pain is one of the most common symptoms experienced by patients living with cancer. Guidelines recommend opioids as the mainstay in the management of cancer-related pain. ⋯ Additionally, in the setting of the opioid epidemic, there have been reports of systemic bias within community pharmacies, leading to experiences with embarrassment and shame for patients with cancer-related pain. This case series presents specific examples of community pharmacies declining to fill opioid prescriptions for patients with cancer-related pain and associated patient suffering.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
Prevalence, Severity, and Predictors of Insomnia in Advanced Colorectal Cancer.
Insomnia is an under-recognized and undertreated symptom in palliative care and advanced cancer cohorts. Insomnia in an advanced colorectal cancer cohort is yet to be investigated despite colorectal cancer being the third commonest cancer worldwide and one with a high symptom burden. ⋯ To our knowledge, this study was the first to investigate the prevalence and associations of insomnia in an advanced colorectal cancer cohort. Our findings demonstrate several groups at greater risk of suffering from insomnia (younger, greater physical capacity, living at home, and those with greater psychological distress). This may guide earlier recognition and management of insomnia to improve overall quality of life in this population.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
Pediatric Cardiology Condolence Letter Writing: Does a Fellowship Curriculum Impact Practice?
Condolence letter (CL) writing after the death of a child is an important opportunity for humanism. Pediatric cardiology fellowship training now recognizes the importance of palliative care, but rarely includes CL education, despite its fragile patient population. ⋯ Development of condolence expression educational programs in pediatric cardiology training should be expanded.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
Aging is not an Illness: Exploring Geriatricians' Resistance to Serious Illness Conversations.
Serious illness conversations help clinicians align medical decisions with patients' goals, values, and priorities and are considered an essential component of shared decision-making. Yet geriatricians at our institution have expressed reluctance about the serious illness care program. ⋯ As institutions work to create system-wide processes for documenting conversations about patients' goals and values, the unique communication preferences of older patients and geriatricians should be specifically considered.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2023
Mapping levels of palliative care service development in Malaysian public hospitals using the WHO Public Health Model of Palliative Care.
This national audit involving Ministry of Health (MOH) Hospitals aimed to map out the levels of development of palliative care services and essential palliative medication availability in Malaysia. ⋯ This study shows that palliative care service development in MOH hospitals is still very limited however, majority of MOH hospitals in Malaysia have all the essential medications and oral morphine available.