Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Oct 2011
Association between symptoms and their severity with survival time in hospitalized patients with far advanced cancer.
To assess the significance of symptoms and their severity for predicting survival of hospitalized patients with far advanced cancer. ⋯ Fatigue, lack of appetite, feeling sad, and shortness of breath could be predictive factors for survival time of hospitalized patients with far advanced cancer. The more severe these symptoms are, the shorter will be survival time.
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Palliative medicine · Oct 2011
Choosing the unit of measurement counts: the use of oral morphine equivalents in studies of opioid consumption is a useful addition to defined daily doses.
Defined daily dose (DDD) is the most common measurement unit used in drug consumption studies. The DDD for opioids may not reflect their relative clinical potencies. The aim of this study was to explore whether opioid consumption data may be interpreted differently when adding oral morphine equivalent (OMEQ) dose as a measurement unit compared with using DDD. ⋯ OMEQ reflects clinical dosing better than DDD, and can give additional insight into opioid consumption when combined with DDD. Using OMEQ can also lead to different conclusions in opioid consumption studies compared with using DDD alone.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2011
ReviewHaematological malignancy: are patients appropriately referred for specialist palliative and hospice care? A systematic review and meta-analysis of published data.
Haematological malignancies are complex diseases, affecting the entire age spectrum, and having marked differences in presentation, treatment, progression and outcome. Patients have a significant symptom burden and despite treatment improvements for some sub-types, many patients die from their disease. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the proportion of patients with haematological malignancies that received any form of specialist palliative or hospice care. ⋯ Our review showed that patients with haematological malignancies were far less likely to receive care from specialist palliative or hospice services compared to other cancers (Risk Ratio 0.46, [95% confidence intervals 0.42-0.50]). There are several possible explanations for this finding, including: ongoing management by the haematology team and consequent strong bonds between staff and patients; uncertain transitions to a palliative approach to care; and sudden transitions, leaving little time for palliative input. Further research is needed to explore: transitions to palliative care; potential unmet patient needs; where patients want to be cared for and die; existing practices in the delivery of palliative and end-of-life care; and barriers to specialist palliative care and hospice referral and how these might be overcome.
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Palliative medicine · Sep 2011
ReviewPerceived barriers and facilitators for general practitioner-patient communication in palliative care: a systematic review.
While effective general practitioner (GP)-patient communication is required for the provision of good palliative care, barriers and facilitators for this communication are largely unknown. We aimed to identify barriers and facilitators for GP-patient communication in palliative care. In a systematic review seven computerized databases were searched to find empirical studies on GP-patient communication in palliative care. ⋯ Lack of availability and failure to discuss former mistakes appear to be blind spots of GPs. GPs should be more forthcoming to initiate discussions with palliative care patients about prognosis and end-of-life issues. Empirical studies are needed to investigate the effectiveness of the perceived barriers and facilitators.