Articles: palliative-care.
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The lancet oncology · Jul 2022
Impact of integrated palliative care in acute and aggressive medical care for patients with advanced haematological malignancies: a retrospective matched case-control study.
Aggressive medical care can increase suffering and the health-care burden on patients with advanced haematological malignancies. Our palliative care team has been pioneering an integrated palliative care (IPC) programme for patients with advanced haematological malignancies in Hong Kong since 2018. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of IPC on the administration of chemotherapy or other treatments within the 14 days before death; multiple (more than one) emergency department visits within the 90 days before death; multiple (more than one) unplanned hospitalisations within the 90 days before death; and intensive care unit admission within the 90 days before death. ⋯ None.
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The lancet oncology · Jul 2022
Serious health-related suffering in Latin America: a secondary analysis.
Evidence from needs analysis can support health systems and improve morbidity and mortality rates related to life-limiting and life-threatening conditions, and is essential for the development of health care and educational plans to respond adequately to the disease burden of the population. The aim of this study was to establish the number of people with serious health-related suffering, defined as a negative impact on the functioning (eg, physical, social, or emotional) of a patient with a serious illness that cannot be mitigated without medical intervention, in 19 Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking Latin American countries in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2019. ⋯ None.
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The term therapeutic privilege is unfamiliar in the medical field and often sparks questions and discomfort about its ethical implications. Therapeutic privilege refers to the act of withholding information by a clinician, with the underlying notion that the disclosure of this information would inflict harm or suffering upon the patient. This is a case of a 56-year-old woman who presented to our facility under critical conditions. ⋯ Prior to her admission, her husband had been admitted at our facility's intensive care unit. On the same day when our patient was extubated, her husband had died. The palliative care team was consulted to assist with disclosing this information to the patient in light of her emotional fragility, her anxiety, and concerns for her ability to receive such news given her own active illnesses.