Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2019
The incidence and prevalence of delirium across palliative care settings: A systematic review.
Delirium is a common and distressing neurocognitive condition that frequently affects patients in palliative care settings and is often underdiagnosed. ⋯ Delirium is prevalent across all palliative care settings, with one-third of patients delirious at the time of admission to inpatient palliative care. Study heterogeneity limits meta-analyses and highlights the future need for rigorous studies.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2019
Inclusion, characteristics and outcomes of people requiring palliative care in studies of non-pharmacological interventions for delirium: A systematic review.
Delirium is common, distressing, serious and under-researched in specialist palliative care settings. ⋯ Non-pharmacological delirium interventions have frequently excluded and under-characterised people requiring palliative care and infrequently reported their outcomes.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2019
Video consultations in palliative care: A systematic integrative review.
There is extensive need for palliative care worldwide, but access to care remains inadequate, especially for non-cancer patients. Video consultations are a promising tool in the provision of home-based palliative care, but an overview of evidence solely on video consultations in palliative care is lacking. ⋯ Using video technology in palliative care has both advantages and disadvantages. However, evidence beyond the focus on specialized palliative care and patients with cancer is limited. Future research should focus on how and when video consultations might replace in-person specialized palliative care and video consultations in general palliative care, in low and middle income countries; and involve patients with a non-cancer diagnosis.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2019
ReviewPatient and carer involvement in palliative care research: An integrative qualitative evidence synthesis review.
Patient/carer involvement in palliative care research has been reported as complex, difficult and less advanced compared to other areas of health and social care research. There is seemingly limited evidence on impact and effectiveness. ⋯ Evidence identified suggests that involvement in palliative care research is challenging, but not dissimilar to that elsewhere. The facilitators and barriers identified relate mainly to the conduct of researchers at an individual level; in particular, there exists a reluctance among professionals to undertake involvement, and myths still perpetuate that patients/carers do not want to be involved. A developed infrastructure, more involvement-friendly organisational cultures and a strengthening of the evidence base would also be beneficial.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2019
Family members' experiences of assisted dying: A systematic literature review with thematic synthesis.
Families' experiences of assisted dying are under-investigated and families are rarely considered in clinical guidelines concerning assisted dying. ⋯ Our data confirm that families across all jurisdictions are involved in assisted suicide decision and enactment. Family needs are under-researched, and clinical guidelines should incorporate recommendations about how to consider family needs and how to provide them with evidence-based tailored interventions.