Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2024
Interview Results from a Telehealth Hospice Intervention for Children and Young Adults with Cancer.
Surveyed families of children and young adults with cancer who participated in a pilot study of three coordinated telehealth visits (triad of patient/family, hospital clinician, and hospice nurse) during the first month of hospice enrollment found telehealth feasible and were highly satisfied with hospice care. The aim of this study is to further explore adult patient and caregiver perspectives on telehealth, specifically the benefits of telehealth, trade-offs with in-person appointments, and the impact on patient care and family end-of-life preparations. ⋯ Adult patients enrolled in hospice and bereaved caregivers found coordinated telehealth visits to be beneficial, notably the convenience, comfort, time and cost savings of participating from home. Coordinated telehealth visits provide opportunities for hospice and hospital clinicians to communicate and collaborate on symptom management plans while supporting and guiding families in end-of-life preparations.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2024
Cigarette smoking and symptom burden: baseline results from 9 ECOG-ACRIN cancer clinical trials.
Approximately 11% of cancer survivors smoke postdiagnosis. ⋯ Patients currently smoking report greater severity of cancer-related symptoms (i.e., cough, pain) yet were also more likely to believe that smoking helps with nausea, insomnia, and pain. Symptom management should include tobacco cessation, education on smoking and its relationship to symptoms, and strategies to reduce reliance on smoking for symptom relief.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2024
Quality of Non-Profit Hospice Affiliated with Integrated Healthcare Systems.
Research shows hospice primary caregivers report better quality of care at Nonprofit (NP) than For-Profit (FP) hospices, but there is variation in quality across NP hospices. ⋯ CAHPs hospice scores did not differ if a hospice was part of integrated healthcare system or not. Further research is needed on variation in quality in NP hospices.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2024
'You want to shield your kids': Patients' and their adult-children's serious illness conversations.
Timely and transparent serious illness conversations (SIC) between family caregivers and patients facilitate high-quality end-of-life care and patients' and family caregivers' mental wellbeing, but frequently do not occur, happen too late, or are incomplete. While social relations and roles shape communication, few studies explore their influence on patient-caregiver SICs. ⋯ The fundamental rebalancing of the parent-child relation and roles when an adult-child cares for their parent creates unique challenges for patients and their ACC to discuss and plan for end-of-life. To encourage timely, effective SICs, clinicians and caregiver services in and outside the clinic need awareness and guidance on how goals of care conversations must incorporate family caregivers' and patients' familial role expectations.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2024
Effects of a comprehensive program on reducing cancer-related fatigue: A randomized controlled trial.
Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) can affect patients undergoing chemotherapy severely. A comprehensive intervention targeted for reducing CRF is lacking. ⋯ This study provides evidence that an innovative multifaceted web-based patient-empowered CRF management program is effective in reducing CRF and improving related symptoms (depression, anxiety, quality of sleep), physical activity, PSEFSM and QoL for gastric cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.