Journal of palliative medicine
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Provision of spiritual/religious (S/R) care has been associated with improvements in patient care, patient-provider relationships, and resource utilization. Clinicians identify a lack of training in S/R care as the primary impediment. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of one-day, simulation-based workshops to prepare interprofessional clinicians to function as capable, confident, and ethical spiritual care generalists. ⋯ This daylong workshop of concentrated instruction, including didactics, visual slideshow, simulation of clinical scenarios, and debriefing/discussion components, was efficient and effective in training clinicians from varied disciplines to learn basic generalist-level spiritual care skills and to collaborate more effectively with chaplains, the spiritual specialists.
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The U. S. healthcare system is shifting from a fee-for-service (FFS) system to a valued-based reimbursement system focused on improving the quality of healthcare. ⋯ All clinicians, including physicians, nurse practitioners, or physician assistants who bill to Medicare Part B FFS, should submit quality data to the PQRS in 2015 or they will receive up to a 4% negative reimbursement penalty in 2017. As implementing and reporting PQRS measures can be a daunting task, especially for palliative care professionals, this article provides high priority tips identified by the authors for PQRS reporting in the palliative care field.
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Pathophysiological changes at the end of life may affect pharmacokinetics of drugs. However, caregivers typically do not extensively monitor patients' laboratory parameters at the end of life. ⋯ Abnormal laboratory results were expected due to the pathophysiological changes that occur during the last phase of life. Remarkably, however, electrolytes (Na and K) were balanced even shortly before death. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), reflecting the kidney function, seems the most clinically relevant laboratory parameter, because it may guide drug choice and dosing.