Articles
Articles that may interest the health provider.
Comfort Care for Patients Dying in the Hospital
Blinderman CD, Billings JA.
N Engl J Med. 2015 Dec 24;373(26):2549-61.
For hospitalized patients whose death is imminent, palliative care can alleviate distressing symptoms that are common during the last few days or weeks of life. The essentials of such care that are presented in this review are intended to provide both generalists and specialists in fields other than palliative care with a practical, evidence-based approach to alleviating these symptoms in patients who are dying in a hospital. Communication skills that are essential to personalized care and goal setting are described briefly; the alleviation of the psychosocial and spiritual suffering that is often faced by terminally ill patients and their families is addressed only incidentally.
Marcella J, Kelley M.
SAGE Open; January-March 2015: 1–15
For long-term care (LTC) home staff who work directly with residents, death, dying, and grief are day-to-day experiences in their working life. However, staff are often overlooked for grief and bereavement support. This exploratory research used a qualitative approach to understand LTC staff’s grief and bereavement experience and to identify the perceived support needs of nurses and personal support workers who work in two faith-based non-profit care homes in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Sinuff T, Dodek P, You JJ.
J Pain Symptom Manage. 2015 Jun;49(6):1070-80.
2015; 11 page pdf.
Department of Critical Care Medicine and Sunnybrook Research Institute (T.S.), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (T.S.), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences and Division of Critical Care Medicine (P.D.), St. Paul’s Hospital and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia; Departments of Medicine, and Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics (J.J.Y.), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario; BC Center for Palliative Care (D.B.), Division of Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia; Fraser Health Authority (C.T.), Surrey, British Columbia; Divisions of Critical Care and Palliative Care (J.D.), Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Divisions of Critical Care and Palliative Medicine (M.H.), Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario; Division of Geriatric Medicine (C.F.), Department of Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; Department of Critical Care Medicine (H.T.S.), Institute for Public Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, and Alberta Health ServicesCalgary Zone, Calgary, Alberta; and Department of Medicine (D.K.H.), Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
European Association for Palliative Care
Palliative Medicine 2014, Vol. 28(3) 197-209
2014; 13 page pdf.
Background: Dementia is a life-limiting disease without curative treatments. Patients and families may need palliative care specific to dementia. Aim: To define optimal palliative care in dementia. Methods: Five-round Delphi study. Based on literature, a core group of 12 experts from 6 countries drafted a set of core domains with salient recommendations for each domain. We invited 89 experts from 27 countries to evaluate these in a two-round online survey with feedback. Consensus was determined according to predefined criteria. The fourth round involved decisions by the core team, and the fifth involved input from the European Association for Palliative Care.
