Journal of palliative medicine
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Electrolyte abnormalities are common among patients with advanced cancer. Our aim was to estimate the prognostic significance of such abnormalities in a palliative care setting. ⋯ Some electrolyte abnormalities may be useful as prognostic indicators in the palliative care setting. However, their prognostic value needs to be investigated in prospective studies and adjusted against proven prognostic indicators.
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Internal medicine programs are now required to integrate palliative care into teaching conferences, and palliative care content is already tested on the American Board of Internal Medicine examination. Previous research has focused on integration of palliative care into existing rotations and seminars, but none has studied a required inpatient palliative care rotation. ⋯ Palliative care knowledge, as tested by objective examination, improves during internal medicine residency at our institution and specifically over the course of a required, 2-week palliative care rotation. Further study is warranted to determine the relative contributions to this improvement from the palliative care rotation itself, the institutional culture and/or Rochester residents' preexisting interest in the bio-psychosocial model.