Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2024
Randomized Controlled TrialTransitional Palliative Care for Family Caregivers: Outcomes from a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Patients receiving inpatient palliative care often face physical and psychological uncertainties during transitions out of the hospital. Family caregivers often take on responsibilities to ensure patient safety, quality of care, and extend palliative care principles, but often without support or training, potentially compromising their health and well-being. ⋯ Addressing rural caregivers' needs during transitions in care can enhance caregiver outcomes and improve patient quality of life.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2024
Parent-Clinician Communication and Prolonged Grief in Parents Whose Child Died from Cancer.
Parent-clinician communication is essential for high-quality end-of-life (EOL) care in children with cancer. However, it is unknown how parent-clinician communication affects parents' experience in the first two years after their child's death. ⋯ Early bereaved parents report severe prolonged grief symptoms. Interventions focused on providing adequate prognostic information and improving preparation for EOL may mitigate parental prolonged grief symptoms in the first two years of their bereavement.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2024
Financial Hardship: A Qualitative Study Exploring Perspectives of Seriously Ill Patients and their Family.
Seriously ill patients, such as those who experience critical illness, and their families experience a variety of poor outcomes, including financial hardship. However, little is known about the ways in which these seriously ill patients and their families experience financial hardship. ⋯ Our findings suggest that the acute and time sensitive nature of treatment decisions in critical care settings provides a unique context for experiences of financial hardship. Additional research is needed to better understand these experiences and design context-sensitive interventions to mitigate financial hardship and associated poor patient- and family-centered outcomes.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2024
Concurrent Care and use of Advanced Cardiac Therapies for Hospitalized Veterans with Heart Failure.
Concurrent care allows patients to receive hospice while continuing disease-directed therapies. This treatment model is available in the Veterans Administration (VA) medical system, but its use in Veterans with heart failure (HF) is unexplored. ⋯ Veterans with HF receiving concurrent care were few and experienced higher mortality. Rate of burdensome transitions was similar between Veterans receiving concurrent care and those not on hospice. Further research may explore why Veterans infrequently utilize concurrent care at the end of life.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2024
Start of the COVID-19 pandemic and palliative care unit utilization: a retrospective cohort study.
People with noncancer diagnoses have poorer access to palliative care units (PCUs) or hospices compared to those with cancer diagnoses. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted how specialist palliative care services were delivered and utilized. ⋯ Despite historically poor PCU/hospice access, the COVID-19 pandemic created circumstances that may have enabled unprecedented utilization in individuals with noncancer diagnoses in our cohort.