Journal of palliative medicine
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There are few published comfort care order sets for end-of-life symptom management, contributing to variability in treatment of common symptoms. At our academic medical centers, we have observed that rapid titration of opioid infusions using our original comfort care order set's titration algorithm causes increased discomfort from opioid toxicity. ⋯ We successfully developed a new comfort care order set at our institutions that can serve as a resource for others. Further evaluation of this order set is needed.
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Discussing goals of care and advance care planning is beneficial, yet how to best integrate goals of care communication into clinical care remains unclear. ⋯ In this developmental and pilot study, a structured goals of care communication guide was iteratively designed, implemented by nurses and social workers, and was feasible based on administration time and acceptability by patients and providers.