Articles: palliative-care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialCan senior volunteers deliver reminiscence and creative activity interventions? Results of the legacy intervention family enactment randomized controlled trial.
Palliative care patients and their family caregivers may have a foreshortened perspective of the time left to live, or the expectation of the patient's death in the near future. Patients and caregivers may report distress in physical, psychological, or existential/spiritual realms. ⋯ Delivery of the intervention by RSVs had a positive impact on palliative care patients' emotional symptoms and burden and caregivers' meaning in life. Meaningful prolonged engagement with palliative care patients and caregivers, possibly through alternative modes of treatment delivery such as continued RSV contact, may be necessary for maintenance of therapeutic effects.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyClinic-based outpatient palliative care before hospice is associated with longer hospice length of service.
Outpatient nonhospice palliative care has been shown to provide many benefits to patients facing advanced illness, but such services remain uncommon in the U.S. Little is known about the association between clinic-based outpatient palliative care consultation and the timing of hospice enrollment. ⋯ Hospice patients who had clinic-based outpatient palliative consults before hospice enrollment tended, on average, to have a longer LOS in hospice than patients who did not.
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Eur. J. Heart Fail. · Oct 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialEffects of person-centred and integrated chronic heart failure and palliative home care. PREFER: a randomized controlled study.
We evaluated the outcome of person-centred and integrated Palliative advanced home caRE and heart FailurE caRe (PREFER) with regard to patient symptoms, health-related quality of life (HQRL), and hospitalizations compared with usual care. ⋯ Person-centred care combined with active heart failure and palliative care at home has the potential to improve quality of life and morbidity substantially in patients with severe chronic heart failure.
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J Natl Compr Canc Netw · Jul 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialBuilding the palliative care evidence base: Lessons from a randomized controlled trial of oxygen vs room air for refractory dyspnea.
Palliative care is increasingly seen as a standard component of high-quality comprehensive cancer care. However, several challenges remain to its widespread integration into clinical oncology practice, including workforce problems, reimbursement concerns, and a fledgling evidence base. This article discusses issues surrounding evidence base development in palliative cancer care, using the example of a recently published randomized controlled trial of oxygen versus room air. ⋯ Its first multisite trial was recently completed, assessing the pragmatic question of whether statin medications can be safely discontinued in end-of-life settings. The PCRC will be a vehicle through which a high-quality evidence base will continue to expand and develop. Such ongoing research efforts are needed to inform and improve palliative care practice.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Early palliative care for patients with advanced cancer: a cluster-randomised controlled trial.
Patients with advanced cancer have reduced quality of life, which tends to worsen towards the end of life. We assessed the effect of early palliative care in patients with advanced cancer on several aspects of quality of life. ⋯ Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.