Literature Review

Hospice nurse reveals the most common deathbed regretsUnilad; by Niamh Shackleton; 4/24/24Bronnie Ware, a nurse who has spent a large majority of her career working in palliative care, found that there were five common things that people regretted about their lives upon reflection as they approached death.

UPMC lays off 1,000 employees, citing market challengesModern Healthcare, by Caroline Hudson; 4/24/24UPMC is laying off about 1,000 employees, or slightly more than 1% of its workforce. The layoffs are effective immediately, a spokesperson said Wednesday. The cuts mostly affect non-clinical, non-member-facing and administrative employees, Paul Wood, chief communications officer at UPMC, said in a statement. ... Pittsburgh-based UPMC operates 40 hospitals and 800 doctor's offices and outpatient sites in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and some international locations. Its insurance division covers more than 4 million members. The nonprofit health system reported a $31 million net loss in 2023, compared with a more than $1 billion loss the prior year. Operating losses for 2023 totaled $198 million.

The cancer caregiving burden trajectory over time: varying experiences of perceived versus objectively measured burden The Oncologist, by Laura A Siminoff, Maureen Wilson-Genderson, Marcin Chwistek, Maria Thomson; 4/23/24 Conclusions: Cancer caregiving is dynamic; [caregivers] CGs must adjust to the progression of the patient's disease. We found an association between subjective and objective burden both within and between CGs. Black CGs were more likely to report lower subjective burden compared to their White counterparts. More detailed investigation of the sociocultural components that affect caregiver experience of burden is needed to better understand how and where to best intervene with targeted supportive care services.

Extra: CMS publishes rule outlining final staffing requirements McKnights Long-Term Care News, by Kimberly Marselas; 4/22/24 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it would exempt nursing homes from having registered nurse coverage for up to 8 out of 24 hours a day “under certain circumstances,” unveiling a critical new detail in the second part of today’s staffing rule rollout. A director of nursing also can count toward the rule’s 24/7 RN requirement, CMS said, noting a change that providers will likely appreciate given their persistent challenges hiring RNs across the country. “The RN onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week requirement ensures that there is an RN available to help mitigate, and ultimately reduce, the likelihood of preventable safety events, particularly during evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays,” CMS said. ...

[Change Management] Improving governance and compliance with knowledge managementOutsourced Pharma, Guest Column by Irwin Hirsh; 4/23/24Knowledge management and knowledge sharing provide powerful levers for removing obstacles to business success. Here, ... I want to raise awareness of how knowledge management supports the demands of compliance and governance. ... [Includes:]

Psychosocial distress screening among interprofessional palliative care teams: A narrative review Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, by Chelsea K Brown and Cara L Wallace; 4/23/24With increased need for palliative care and limited staffing resources, non-social workers are increasingly responsible for screening for urgent psychosocial distress. The National Consensus Project guidelines call for all palliative care team members to be competent in screening across domains. ... Although an abundance of validated screening tools exists for outpatient oncology-specific settings, there is minimal guidance on psychosocial screening tools intended for specialty palliative care. The most oft-cited tools have been met with concern for validity across diverse palliative care populations and settings. ...  

30 systems sign on to new effort to advance age-friendly care Becker's Clinical Leadership, by Erica Carbajal; 4/17/24Thirty health systems are participating in a new collaborative through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement that aims to accelerate the adoption of age-friendly care for older adults. The Age-Friendly System-Wide Spread Collaborative is billed as a learning and action community through which systems will focus on embedding four evidence-based elements of high-quality care for older adults: what matters, medication, mentation and mobility, known as the 4Ms. Participants — which include Los Angeles-based Cedars Sinai, New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System and Atlanta-based Grady Health — will share data and collaborate to advance their own improvements in scaling age-friendly care across their sites of care. Participants also have the opportunity to be among the first to achieve a new IHI recognition for systemwide adoption of the 4Ms. 

Providence employees awarded $98M in wage suit Modern Healthcare, by Hayley Desilva; 4/22/24 A jury awarded more than $98 million to Providence Health and Services employees in a class action lawsuit over claims the health system illegally denied meal breaks and pay for time worked. King County Superior Court Judge Averil Rothrock, who presided over the case, also ruled Thursday that the health system willfully withheld wages, which under Washington state law could entitle workers to double the amount of damages awarded.

What the ‘fundamentally contradicting’ Medicaid Access Rule includes Home Health Care News, by Andrew Donlan; 4/22/24 The White House teased the finalized Medicaid Access Rule early Monday, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) later revealed more intricate details attached to the rule. [The] timeline of the rule is now clear. Specifically: ... [Click on the title's link for more]

Dana-Farber retracts string of studies in systematic review of data integritySTAT+, by Angus Chen; 4/18/24An ongoing investigation into data integrity at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has resulted in a string of retractions, the latest of which is a 2006 Science paper co-authored by institute president and CEO Laurie Glimcher. The retraction notice, published in Science on Thursday, noted that the authors had become aware of discrepancies in key scientific images that led them to lose confidence in key figures in the study, although the study’s lead author opposed the retraction. The issues with this paper, along with concerns with more than 50 other articles co-authored by four of Dana-Farber's top researchers, were highlighted in a January blog post by the scientific sleuth Sholto David.

Behind the stethoscope: Exploring nursing ethics Noozhawk, Santa Barbara County, by Green Shoot Media; 4/22/24 The American Nurses Association developed a Code of Ethics for Nurses in the 1950s. It has been revised over the years to respond to technological advances and changes in society and the nursing field. Gallup takes a poll every year asks how the public ranks various professions for having high honesty and ethics. For 22 straight years, nurses come in as the most respected in terms of honesty and ethics. In 2024, 78% of the poll takers perceived them as honest.

Health disparities across states: 6 new findings Becker's Clinical Leadership, by Kelly Gooch; 4/18/24 The Commonwealth Fund released a new report April 18 examining racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare access, quality and outcomes across the U.S. The report, titled "Advancing Racial Equity in U.S. Health Care: The Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities Report," examined state health system performance for five racial and ethnic groups — (non-Hispanic) Black; white; American Indian and Alaska Native; Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander; and Hispanic (any race). [Click on the title's link for (1) Six summary findings, and (2) To download the report.