Journal of palliative medicine
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Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre has one of the world's most enduring staff Christmas choirs. Commencing in 1956, the choir performs in a cafeteria, patient wards, and outpatient waiting areas before each Christmas. With recent emphasis on oncology staff support needs the choir's relevance warranted investigation. This constructivist research examined what effect the staff Christmas choir had on the choir members and staff bystanders in 2008. ⋯ A staff Christmas choir supported most choir member and staff bystander respondents in an oncology hospital and is recommended in comparable contexts. Further investigation is warranted to extend understanding about Christmas music's effects in palliative care settings.
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Parents may fear that a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order will result in reduction of the level, quality, and priority of their child's medical care. We therefore assessed medical care that was continued, added, and discontinued after a DNR order was placed in the medical record. ⋯ In this cohort of pediatric oncology patients, the medical interventions being received were continued with a high frequency after placement of a DNR order. Chemotherapy was continued only in a minority of patients, possibly signifying a shift in goals. These findings may help to reassure families that a DNR order need not result in a change in any of their child's medical therapies which appropriately advance the defined goals of care.
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This study is the first to explore how rumination or recurrent dwelling may contribute to psychological distress in palliative care. We hypothesised that rumination is important in palliative care because: (1) rumination is triggered by significant life events; (2) the diagnosis of a life-limiting illness means the reevaluation of a number of personal goals, which may become unattainable, and, thereby, lead to rumination; (3) palliative care patients and caregivers report a number of existential concerns, which in their style and content are characteristic of rumination. ⋯ The results support the importance of addressing rumination on existential concerns in palliative care because of its association with psychological distress. Rumination was identified as a mechanism that may be important in addressing psychological distress in palliative care.
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Falls can pose a serious threat to hospice patients receiving palliative care. Interventions to reduce falls have yielded minimal results among older patients. Falls among hospice patients provide a unique population from which a new approach to fall prevention may need to be established. ⋯ The current model predicted fall occurrence far better than the Morse Falls Scale and other functional status measures and may lead to a shift in fall prevention approaches among hospice patients.