Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jan 2011
Review Meta AnalysisAntidepressants for the treatment of depression in palliative care: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Depression can exacerbate symptoms associated with life-threatening illness and increase disability and distress. In palliative care, depression occurs in a context of multiple symptoms, which complicates detection and treatment. While systematic reviews of antidepressants have been conducted in specific life-threatening diseases, no previous study has synthesized the evidence in palliative care. ⋯ Their superiority over placebo is apparent within 4-5 weeks and increases with continued use. It is probable that the effect sizes yielded in this review overestimate the efficacy of antidepressants due to biases such as selective reporting and publication. Nevertheless, the magnitude and consistency of the effect suggests genuine benefit.
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Palliative medicine · Jan 2011
ReviewA comparison of palliative care outcome measures used to assess the quality of palliative care provided in long-term care facilities: a systematic review.
Provision of palliative care in long-term care (LTC) facilities is important, but limited research has been undertaken to investigate the most appropriate outcome measure for use in this setting. In this systematic review we aimed to measure the psychometric properties (reliability/validity) and feasibility of palliative outcome measures used to assess the quality of palliative care provided in LTC. For identification of outcome measures we undertook systematic searches of electronic databases from 1 January 2000 to 12 September 2008. ⋯ The Family Perceptions of Care Scale is considered by the authors as the most suitable outcome measure for use in LTC facilities. Of the remaining nine measures, a further two were also considered suitable for measuring the quality of palliative care in residential aged care facilities. These are the Quality of Dying in Long-term Care scale and the Toolkit Interview.