Articles: caregivers.
-
Multicenter Study
Place of death: correlations with quality of life of patients with cancer and predictors of bereaved caregivers' mental health.
To determine whether the place of death for patients with cancer is associated with patients' quality of life (QoL) at the end of life (EOL) and psychiatric disorders in bereaved caregivers. ⋯ Patients with cancer who die in a hospital or ICU have worse QoL compared with those who die at home, and their bereaved caregivers are at increased risk for developing psychiatric illness. Interventions aimed at decreasing terminal hospitalizations or increasing hospice utilization may enhance patients' QoL at the EOL and minimize bereavement-related distress.
-
Palliative medicine · Sep 2010
Multicenter StudyThe trajectory of palliative care costs over the last 5 months of life: a Canadian longitudinal study.
This study aimed to highlight the trajectory of palliative care costs over the last five months of life in five urban centres across Canada. ⋯ The knowledge gained from this study would be useful to policy makers when developing policies that could help families caring for a terminally ill loved one at home.
-
Palliative medicine · Mar 2010
Multicenter StudyInviting the absent members: examining how caregivers' participation affects hospice team communication.
This paper is a secondary observation of a larger pilot study. The Assessing Caregivers for Team Intervention via Video Encounters intervention project enabled caregiver participation in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings. ⋯ Analysis found that team meetings with participating caregivers had better team outcomes, with more patient-centered goals, increased discussion of biopsychosocial problems, and the development of interdisciplinary care plans occurring more often than in the traditional hospice team meetings. Findings from this study show benefits for inclusion of caregivers in hospice team meetings.
-
Critical care medicine · Mar 2010
Multicenter StudyExpanding the paradigm of the physician's role in surrogate decision-making: an empirically derived framework.
Little is known about what role physicians take in the decision-making process about life support in intensive care units. ⋯ There is considerable variability in the roles physicians take in decision-making about life support with surrogates but little negotiation of desired roles. We present an empirically derived framework that provides a more comprehensive view of physicians' possible roles.
-
Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Concordance of family and staff member reports about end of life in assisted living and nursing homes.
To identify differences in perspectives that may complicate the process of joint decision making at the end of life, this study determined the agreement of family and staff perspectives about end-of-life experiences in nursing homes and residential care/assisted living communities and whether family and staff roles, involvement in care, and interaction are associated with such agreement. ⋯ Family and staff perspectives about end-of-life experiences may differ substantially; efforts can be made to improve family-staff communication and interaction for joint decision making.