Journal of palliative medicine
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Our aim was to evaluate the use of very-low-dose methadone with haloperidol in the acute-care setting. ⋯ The use of very-low-dose methadone in conjunction with haloperidol in the acute-care setting resulted in improved pain control after conversion from typical opiates.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Inpatient palliative care for patients with acute heart failure: outcomes from a randomized trial.
Heart failure (HF) is associated with a high symptom burden and reduced quality of life (QOL). Models integrating palliative care (PC) into HF care have been proposed, but limited research is available on the outcomes of such models. ⋯ An inpatient PC model for patients with acute HF is associated with short-term improvement in symptom burden, QOL, and depressive symptoms.
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Treatment delays of metastatic extradural spinal cord compression (MESCC) sometimes have been reported, but reasons for its delay have remained unclear. The purpose of this study was to assess which clinical factors are associated with treatment delays in neurologically symptomatic MESCC in the hospital settings. ⋯ Our findings suggest that normal walking status at the first physician visit and inclusion of weekends during the pretreatment periods were factors that resulted in treatment delays even for MESCC patients with emergency neurological symptoms.