Literature Review

Addus announces sale of its personal care business in New YorkHome Helath Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 5/21/24Addus HomeCare Corporation is selling its New York personal care business, along with its fiscal intermediary services for the state’s consumer-directed care program. The company announced Tuesday that it will offload its New York operations to HCS-Girling, another home-based care provider. The divestment will be worth “up to” $23 million for Addus, the company said, and the transaction is not yet closed. ... Based in Frisco, Texas, Addus provides home care, home health and hospice services to more than 49,000 consumers across 214 locations spanning 22 states.

Avow honors local veterans at 8th Annual Armed Forces CelebrationAvow Cares; Press Release; 5/23/24 Local Veterans from various branches of the military convened at Avow’s 8th Annual Armed Forces Celebration. The event, held on May 17 provided a tribute to those who have served or are currently serving our nation with valor and sacrifice. ... This annual celebration not only serves as a day of deep respect and gratitude but also as a crucial part of Avow’s ongoing commitment to recognizing the heroic service of our Veterans. Throughout the year, Avow distributes approximately 2,000 pins to honor veterans for their service. ... Avow is a Level 5 Partner with We Honor Veterans, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in collaboration with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). In 2023, nearly 25% of all hospice patients admitted to Avow were identified as Veterans.

Golfers swing for a cause raising $15,000 for local nonprofit Avow Cares; press release by Renee Stoll; 5/28/24 Hadinger Flooring hosted its 17th Annual Classic Golf Tournament on May 9, 2024, at Tiburon Golf Club, raising $15,000 for local nonprofit Avow. ... The event hosted 150 golfers from various regions around the United States. ... Avow is a nonprofit provider of hospice, palliative care and grief support services. 

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ TS Eliot

Sunday newsletters focus on headlines and top read stories of the last week (in order) - enjoy!

A joint frailty model for recurrent and competing terminal events: Application to delirium in the ICUStatistics in Medicine; by Lacey H. Etzkorn, Quentin Le Coënt, Mark van den Boogaard, Virginie Rondeau, Elizabeth Colantuoni; 5/24Motivated by studies of recurrent delirium events in patients receiving care in an intensive care unit (ICU), we devise a joint model for a recurrent event process and multiple terminal events. ... We propose a competing joint model that uses a latent frailty to link a patient’s recurrent and competing terminal event processes. ... Lastly, we discuss limitations and possible extensions for the competing joint model.Publisher's Note: While complicated, some readers might find this methodological model of interest.

The balance between honesty and hopeJAMA Cardiology; by Sarah Godfrey; 5/24I am training to be a palliative cardiologist, often delivering heartbreaking news, but I was not prepared to receive it as a mother. Before [her new baby boy] N’s diagnosis, I would have said that our responsibility as physicians is to prepare families for the worst possible outcome. But how can we balance honesty and hope? Could that neurologist have prepared us for the potentially devastating outcome while also allowing us to believe more was possible? When I enter critical illness conversations now, I remember my desperate need for hope when I faced a parent’s worst nightmare. N has made me a better mother and physician, and he has taught me that we must allow hope to flourish even in the darkest of situations.

“When I do have some time, rather than spend it polishing silver, I want to spend it with my grandkids”: a qualitative exploration of patient values following left ventricular assist device implantationBMC Palliative Care; by Avery C. Bechthold, Colleen K. McIlvennan, Daniel D. Matlock, Deborah B. Ejem, Rachel D. Wells, Jesse LeJeune, Marie A. Bakitas, J. Nicholas Odom; 5/24Values are broadly understood to have implications for how individuals make decisions and cope with serious illness stressors, yet it remains uncertain how patients and their family and friend caregivers discuss, reflect upon, and act on their values in the post-left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation context. This study aimed to explore the values elicitation experiences of patients with an LVAD in the post-implantation period. ... Clinicians should consider assessing the values of patients post-implantation to facilitate shared understanding of their goals/priorities and identify potential changes in their coping.

Challenges and solutions of conducting dementia clinical trials: A palliative care at home pilot for persons with dementiaJournal of the American Geriatrics Society; by Leah V. Estrada, PhD, Laura Gelfman, MD, Meng Zhang, MD, Christian Espino, BA, Nathan Goldstein, MD; 4/24We enrolled 30 patients and their 30 caregivers in our pilot trial of home-based palliative care. We found two significant barriers to enrollment: (1) the electronic health record was insufficient to determine the severity ofpatients' dementia; and (2) rates of follow-up survey completion were low, with completion rates at 6 months between 14 and 44%. We created an iterative training process to determine dementia severity from electronic health records and applied person-centered approaches to improve survey completion. ... Electronic health records are not set up to include discrete fields for dementia severity, which makes enrollment of older adults with dementia in a clinical trial challenging. The strain of caring for a loved one with advanced dementia may also make participation in health-services research difficult for patients and their families. Novel approaches have the potential to counteract these challenges, improve recruitment and retention, and ultimately improve care for people with dementia and their caregivers.

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. ~Walt Whitman

Hospice patient in Red Wing died after being given morphine by mistakeBring Me the News (MN); by Tommy Wiita; 5/29/24A hospice patient at a Red Wing assisted living facility suffering a diabetic emergency died after being given morphine by mistake. A Minnesota Department of Health State Rapid Response Investigative Report found that the allegation of neglect against the Mayo Clinic Hospice at 906 College Way was substantiated as the staff member "failed to provide timely care, monitoring, and safe medication administration services. The report says the staff member provided five times the resident's prescribed dose of morphine "in error" and didn't provide interventions when the resident was having a seizure and had a critically low blood sugar of 29.

Manassas Park teens complete inaugural nurse aide course while earning high school diploma ABC News 7 Washington DC; by Victoria Sanchez; 5/30/24 Ten Manassas Park seniors completed their high school nurse aide program and are on their way to being certified by the Virginia Board of Nursing, all while earning their diploma. The inaugural Nurse Aide Pathway class is a competitive, five-day-a-week program that teaches the teens 22 skills they need to become a CNA. They also learned outside the classroom during 40 hours of clinical rotations at a local hospice center. ... “This is the best opportunity I could ever have in high school and will forever be one of the best opportunities I ever have in my life,” said student Javi Sedeno Cisneros. He has an eye on earning an MD after becoming a CNA. ... During their time at the hospice center, the 17-year-olds experienced life lessons most of their peers won’t learn for years.... [Read more for this inspiring, innovative solution.]