Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2021
Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare staff at a combined elderly care and specialist palliative care facility: A cross-sectional study.
In the pre-COVID-19 era, healthcare professionals experienced stress and burnout. The international literature confirms that COVID-19 placed significant additional burdens on healthcare workers. ⋯ This study demonstrates the profound impact of COVID-19 on personal and professional wellbeing of staff. The greatest burden was carried by those providing prolonged, direct and intimate patient care.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2021
Smiles behind the masks: A systematic review and narrative synthesis exploring how family members of seriously ill or dying patients are supported during infectious disease outbreaks.
Infection control measures during infectious disease outbreaks can have significant impacts on seriously ill and dying patients, their family, the patient-family connection, coping, grief and bereavement. ⋯ Learning from previous infectious disease outbreaks about how family are supported can be translated to the current COVID-19 pandemic and future infectious disease outbreaks. Consistent, culturally sensitive and tailored plans should be clearly communicated to family members, including when any restrictions may be amended or additional supports provided when someone is dying.