Articles: palliative-care.
-
Multicenter Study
Do-not-resuscitate orders and/or hospice care, psychological health, and quality of life among children/adolescents with acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
The frequency of do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders and hospice enrollment in children/adolescents living with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and followed in Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG) Study 219C was examined, and evaluated for any association with racial disparities or enhanced quality of life (QOL), particularly psychological adjustment. ⋯ Children who died of AIDS rarely had DNR/hospice enrollment. National guidelines recommend that quality palliative care be integrated routinely with HIV care. Further research is needed to explore the barriers to palliative care and advance care planning in this population.
-
Multicenter Study
Judgements about fellow professionals and the management of patients receiving palliative care in primary care: a qualitative study.
Policies emphasise the importance of collaborative working in community palliative care. Collaborations are generally formed through formal and informal referral processes, but little is known about what influences professionals' decisions to refer to such services. ⋯ Palliative care policies and protocols need to take account of these complex and subtle influences on referrals and collaboration. In particular, teamwork and partnership are encouraged within palliative care work, but critical judgements indicate that such partnerships may be difficult or fragile. It is likely that such judgemental attitudes and practices affect many aspects of primary care, not just palliative care.
-
Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Do palliative consultations improve patient outcomes?
To determine whether inpatient palliative consultation services improve outcomes of care. ⋯ Palliative consultations improve outcomes of care, and earlier consultations may confer additional benefit.
-
Palliative medicine · Apr 2008
Multicenter StudyPalliative care provision for people with intellectual disabilities: a questionnaire survey of specialist palliative care professionals.
There is a growing interest in the palliative care needs of people with intellectual disabilities (ID). There are indications that palliative care staff face particular problems providing care to this group, but empirical data about the extent of the problem are lacking. This study aims to gain insight into the current use of palliative care services by people with ID in London, to identify the prevalence and severity of problems faced by palliative care professionals and to identify strategies that will facilitate an improvement in access and delivery of palliative care services to people with ID. ⋯ There is a distinct set of problems related to the provision of palliative care for people with ID. Palliative care services should assess the nature and level of their service provision for people with ID. Future research should include epidemiological studies to assess need and include people with ID as informants to evaluate the effectiveness of palliative care provision.
-
Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. · Mar 2008
Multicenter StudyPatterns of practice of palliative radiotherapy in Africa, Part 1: Bone and brain metastases.
To provide data on the pattern of practice of palliative radiotherapy (RT) on the African continent. ⋯ Radiotherapy is a major component of treatment of cancer patients in African countries. There is consensus among few centers for treatment schedules for almost all sites regarding time and dose-fractionation characteristics of RT regimens used and/or indications for the use of RT in this setting.