Nursing home ratings and characteristics predict hospice use among decedents with serious illnesses
Journal of the American Medical Directors Association; by Ellis C Dillon, Chae Man Lee, Wenqi Gan, Doreek Charles, Germine Soliman, Julie Robison; 4/26
Approximately one-third of older Americans experience a nursing home (NH) stay within 3 months of death, but it is unclear how NH characteristics influence end-of-life care.  Short-term (vs long-term) NH stays were associated with increased odds of hospice use and short hospice use. Individuals with long-term stays had lower odds of hospice use with stays at NHs with the highest (vs lowest) CMS ratings for quality measures and staffing ... Those with short-term stays had lower odds of hospice use with stays at NHs with the highest CMS Health Inspection ratings. People with long-term stays at NHs that were part of a chain, had Alzheimer's care units, or had more beds had increased odds of hospice care. Conclusions and implications: Among Connecticut Medicaid-insured decedents with NH stays, people with long-term stays and stays in NHs with better CMS ratings had lower odds of hospice use. 
Assistant Editor's note: It is difficult to obtain national data for Medicaid hospice days. But according to Medicare claims data obtained from Hospice Analytics, 19% of hospice days in 2024 occurred in a nursing home setting. This summary article highlights an important issue and an excellent opportunity for future analysis with a broader study population. Intuitively, we'd like to see highly rated NHs have higher hospice utilization. 

Psychological intervention aimed at depression, anxiety, and advance care planning in people with advanced cancer
CU Anschutz press release; by Greg Glasgow; 4/15/26
People with advanced or incurable cancer, understandably, often experience heightened levels of anxiety and depression, as well as an inability to undertake advance care planning — discussing and deciding on future medical care preferences in the event that a patient is no longer able to speak for themself. “Advance care planning involves deciding who would be making those decisions, how much flexibility that person would have in making them, and what types of decisions you would prefer that person make,” says University of Colorado Anschutz Cancer Center member Joanna Arch, PhD. “Physicians care about advance care planning because patients can get very sick and enter the ICU, and if they haven't communicated what they want, it can create a lot of difficulties for the family and the clinicians.” Arch and fellow cancer center member Jean Kutner, MD, MSPH, along with Regina Fink, PhD, professor emeriti of internal medicine, developed an intervention to help patients with advanced cancer cope with anxiety, depression, and advance care planning. 

Losing a close person to death in ICU: A thematic analysis of bereaved family members' experiences of end-of-life care
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing; by Lena Palmryd, Anette Alvariza, Asa Rejno, Tove Godskesen; 6/26
This study aims to describe bereaved family members experiences of end-of-life care following the death of a close person in ICU... In ICUs, family members are in great need of compassionate support, characterized by the presence of ICU nurses and their emotionally attuned communication. This support helps family members navigate the complexity in care, fostering trust, meaning-making, and a sense of dignity.

Enhancing psychosocial care at end of life: A novel simulation training program
Palliative & Supportive Care; by Emilia Crnjak, Michelle Kerns, Mariah Stevens, Brianna O'Connell, Lauren Mednick; 4/26
Providing psychosocial support to pediatric patients and their families at the end of life represents one of the most challenging yet vital aspects of healthcare practice. This study explored the use of simulation-based training to enhance the self-reported knowledge, skills, and comfort levels of child life specialists in providing psychosocial care during end-of-life situations. Forty-three child life specialists participated in the simulation-based training, which was combined with traditional didactic instruction, and the associated research study. Pre- and post-training surveys were used to assess impact of the training on child life specialists' self-reported knowledge of end-of-life care and comfort in providing this care. A statistically significant increase was seen in all measured aspects of self-reported knowledge and comfort in providing end-of-life care following the training.

Leveraging generative AI within the ADDIE model: A transformative approach for nursing professional development
The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing; by Maryann Windey, John Bruewer; 4/26
This article explores how nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners can use artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) across each phase of the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) instructional design model to drive timely, personalized, data-driven education that aligns with health care system priorities, boosts learner engagement, and improves outcomes. Integrating Gen AI within the ADDIE framework positions NPD practitioners as strategic enablers of agile, responsive education. It allows for faster, tailored content development, real-time learner adaptation and evaluation, and alignment of education with organizational performance.

[Canada] Palliative care in multiple sclerosis
Continuum; by Penelope Smyth, Janis M. Miyasaki; 4/26
This article reviews palliative care concepts valuable to neurologists caring for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), describes the three stages of palliative principles in care delivery, and suggests triggers to refer for specialized palliative care interventions. Advances in disease-modifying therapies have extended life expectancy and reduced disability progression in patients with multiple sclerosis. However, palliative care remains underutilized in addressing persistent symptoms, care partner burden, and psychosocial challenges. Palliative care strategies in MS can be divided into three stages: early-stage palliative care needs and screening after diagnosis; midstage palliative care needs, including symptom management and quality-of-life optimization; and late-stage palliative care needs, including managing severe MS and end-of-life care. Additional foci of specialist palliative care may include end-of-life care, advance care planning, care partner support, and patient consideration of medically assisted death. 

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. ~ Helen Keller