Articles: palliative-care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialEMPOWER: an intervention to address barriers to pain management in hospice.
Concerns about pain medications are major barriers to pain management in hospice, but few studies have focused on systematic methods to address these concerns. ⋯ EMPOWER is a promising model to reduce barriers to pain management in hospice.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
The effect on quality of life of vitamin D administration for advanced cancer treatment (VIDAFACT study): protocol of a randomised controlled trial.
Vitamin D is related to resistance to chronic diseases, physiological parameters and functional measures. All of these relationships underscore the potential benefits of cholecalciferol or D3 (nutritional vitamin D) in cancer. This is the first study designed to obtain conclusive evidence on the effect of cholecalciferol in advanced patients with cancer. The main goal is to assess its effects on the patient's perceived quality of life. Cholecalciferol's impact on fatigue and physical performance, as well as its cost utility, will also be assessed. ⋯ Ethical approval was received from the Medical Ethical Commitee of the HUAV (CEIC-1169). Participants and their families will receive the research findings which will also be disseminated on local and national media, presented at national and international meetings of the specialty, and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Pragmatic Clinical Trial
An integrated palliative and respiratory care service for patients with advanced disease and refractory breathlessness: a randomised controlled trial.
Breathlessness is a common and distressing symptom, which increases in many diseases as they progress and is difficult to manage. We assessed the effectiveness of early palliative care integrated with respiratory services for patients with advanced disease and refractory breathlessness. ⋯ UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Cicely Saunders International.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyA study to improve communication between clinicians and patients with advanced heart failure: methods and challenges behind the working to improve discussions about defibrillator management trial.
We report the challenges of the Working to Improve Discussions About Defibrillator Management trial, our novel, multicenter trial aimed at improving communication between cardiology clinicians and their patients with advanced heart failure (HF) who have implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). The study objectives are (1) to increase ICD deactivation conversations, (2) to increase the number of ICDs deactivated, and (3) to improve psychological outcomes in bereaved caregivers. The unit of randomization is the hospital, the intervention is aimed at HF clinicians, and the patient and caregiver are the units of analysis. ⋯ Third, we had to adapt our entry criteria to the changing landscape of ventricular assist devices and cardiac transplant eligibility. Here we present our novel solutions to the difficulties we encountered. Our work has the ability to enhance conduct of future studies focusing on improving care for patients with advanced illness.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialPalliative radiation before hospice: the long and the short of it.
Randomized data support shorter radiotherapy courses for management of cancer-related symptoms in the palliative setting. ⋯ This study found relatively long courses of radiotherapy before short lengths of survival on hospice. Future research is needed to identify barriers to shorter radiotherapy courses.