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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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cost Analysis of a Randomized Trial of Early Palliative Care in Patients with Metastatic Nonsmall-Cell Lung Cancer.
Several trials have shown that integrated palliative and oncology care improves quality of life and mood in patients with advanced cancers. However, the degree to which early involvement of palliative care (PC) in the outpatient setting impacts the cost of care remains unknown. ⋯ The delivery of early PC does not appear to increase overall medical care expenses for patients with metastatic NSCLC. Larger, sufficiently powered cost studies of early PC are needed.
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People with motor neuron disease (MND) face barriers when accessing palliative care. There is a lack of research about how these barriers affect the end-of-life (EOL) and death experiences of people with MND. ⋯ The findings indicate that increased access to specialist palliative care services by people with MND is needed to improve EOL experiences.
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A question prompt sheet (QPS) is a structured list of potential questions available for patients to ask their doctor during a clinical encounter. Although it has been shown to improve physician-patient interaction during clinical consultations, there is paucity of data on its use in the palliative care setting. The aim of this study was to develop a single-page consensus list of prompt questions for use by patients attending outpatient palliative care. ⋯ A 25-item, single-page QPS was developed for use by patients attending outpatient palliative care. Further studies are needed to determine its clinical effectiveness in assisting physician-patient communication.