Palliative medicine
-
Palliative medicine · Jun 2021
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudySingle early palliative care intervention added to usual oncology care for patients with advanced cancer: A randomized controlled trial (SENS Trial).
International oncology societies recommend early palliative care. Specific models to integrate early palliative care efficiently into clinical practice are debated. The authors designed a study to look at the quantitative and qualitative outcomes of an early palliative care intervention in oncological care to decrease stress and improve quality of life. ⋯ The addition of an early intervention to usual care for patients with advanced cancer did not improve distress or quality of life. Thus, patients may need more intensive early palliative care with continuous professional support to identify and address their palliative needs early.
-
Palliative medicine · Jun 2021
The experience of delirium in palliative care settings for patients, family, clinicians and volunteers: A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis.
Delirium is common in palliative care settings and is distressing for patients, their families and clinicians. To develop effective interventions, we need first to understand current delirium care in this setting. ⋯ Increased understanding of non-pharmacological approaches to delirium prevention and management, as well as support for clinicians and families, are important to enable patients' multi-dimensional needs to be met.
-
Palliative medicine · Jun 2021
ReviewUnderstanding the palliative care needs and experiences of people with mesothelioma and their family carers: An integrative systematic review.
People with mesothelioma and their families have palliative care needs throughout the relatively short trajectory of their illness. ⋯ The evidence base around the palliative care needs and experiences of people with mesothelioma and their carers needs to be strengthened. The results of this review support the need to develop a greater understanding about the role non-specialist palliative care clinicians' play in providing generalist palliative care for people with mesothelioma and their carers.
-
Palliative medicine · Jun 2021
Impact of physician-based palliative care delivery models on health care utilization outcomes: A population-based retrospective cohort study.
Increasing involvement of palliative care generalists may improve access to palliative care. It is unknown, however, if their involvement with and without palliative care specialists are associated with different outcomes. ⋯ The generalist palliative care model achieved similar healthcare utilization outcomes as consultation and specialist models. Including a physician home visit component in each model may promote community death.
-
Palliative medicine · Jun 2021
Pharmacological strategies used to manage symptoms of patients dying of COVID-19: A rapid systematic review.
COVID-19 has tragically resulted in over 2.5 million deaths globally. Despite this, there is a lack of research on how to care for patients dying of COVID-19, specifically pharmacological management of symptoms. ⋯ A higher proportion of patients required continuous subcutaneous infusion than is typically encountered in palliative care. Doses of medications required to manage symptoms were generally modest. There was no evidence of a standardised yet holistic approach to measure effectiveness of these medications and this needs to be urgently addressed.