Literature Review

Palliative telecare improves quality of life for those with chronic illnesses, and results last for months: StudyMedical Xpress, by CU Anschutz Medical Campus; 1/16/24Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that a team intervention, provided by phone, leads to persistent improvements in depression, anxiety, and quality of life for people managing chronic illnesses. Additionally, researchers found that the improvement in quality of life results last months after intervention concludes.

Clinician perspectives on virtual specialty palliative care for patients with advanced illnessesJournal of Palliative Medicine, Pub Med online ahead of print, by Tamar Klaiman et.al.; 1/10/24Research objective: We sought to understand referring clinician perspectives on barriers and facilitators to utilizing virtual tools to increase upstream access to palliative care.

Use of palliative care for ICU patients, familiesReview of Doherty, C., Feder, S., Gillespie-Heyman, S., & Akgün, K. M. (2023). Easing Suffering for ICU Patients and Their Families: Evidence and Opportunities for Primary and Specialty Palliative Care in the ICU. Journal of Intensive Care Medicine. Yale School of Medicine, review by Chigoziri Knokwo; 1/8/24... The authors identify the most commonly worrisome symptoms affecting ICU patients as the inability to communicate, pain, difficulty breathing, and thirst. They also highlight distressing experiences for families and caregivers of patients in the ICU, particularly depression and complicated grief. They recommend the continued incorporation of humanistic palliative care principles, considering perspectives from a more diverse representation of countries and cultures, particularly more resource-limited settings.

Most palliative care nurses feel unable to meet patient needsNursing Times, by Ella Devereaux; 1/4/24Junior health staff are having to make complex decisions about end-of-life care, due to a lack of out-of-hours palliative care nursing services, a new report has warned. The report, published by the Queen’s Nursing Institute and the Marie Curie Charity, has assessed how end-of-life care has changed over time and some of the issues that continue to impact the efficiency of services.

What is Palliative Care?Money, by Bianca Rodriguez Rojas; 1/4/24Palliative care is a healthcare approach that aims to provide comfort and improve the quality of life of people diagnosed with a serious or life-threatening disease such as cancer, heart failure or Parkinson’s.Editor's Note: Interesting this appeared in Money magazine...

Palliative care providers can enhance care coordination Hospice News, by Rachel Edwards; 1/2/24Fragmented health care has significant ties to adverse outcomes in patients with chronic or serious illnesses. Palliative care providers’ ability to navigate the health care system, coordinate the delivery of care, interact regularly with patients and facilitate communication between providers can reduce this fragmentation. This type of coordination can improve outcomes, decrease costs and offer patients a better quality of life.

'This Is Not Rocket Science': A Doctor's Mission to Overcome Children's Fear of NeedlesKQED, by April Dembosky; 12/27/23Any new parent has been through it: The distress of seeing your child scream at the doctor’s office. The torture of having to hold them down as the clinician sticks them with one vaccine after another. ... “We are taught to see pain as an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of good treatment,” said Dr. Diane Meier, a palliative care specialist at Mount Sinai in New York. “We learn to repress that feeling of distress at the pain we are causing because otherwise we can’t do our jobs.” During her medical training, Meier had to hold kids down for procedures, a task she hated. It drove her away from pediatrics. She went into geriatrics instead and later helped lead the modern movement to promote palliative care in medicine.

Solving for X at the End of Life

Addressing the Intimacy Needs of Partners of Patients with Terminal CancerInternational Society for Sexual Medicine; 12/26/23A recent study was designed to address the overlooked sexual needs of patients with life-limiting cancers in palliative care. It explored both the physical and psychological elements of intimacy, emphasizing the importance of sexuality support in the palliative phase.

Palliative care pioneer named chief medical officer of The Elizabeth HospiceSan Diego Union-TribuneDecember 24, 2023Escondido, CA—Charles von Gunten, M.D., F.A.A.H.P.M. is the new chief medical officer for The Elizabeth Hospice and will oversee all medical aspects of the organization’s hospice and palliative care and services. ... Von Gunten is a pioneer in palliative medicine. He was the founding chairman of the test committee for Hospice & Palliative Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine on behalf of nine American Board of Medical Specialties member boards. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in 2011.

Contessa’s Lessons Learned on Risk-Based Palliative CarePalliative Care NewsDecember 13, 2023As Contessa Health pioneers a growing value-based palliative care-at-home program, they’ve encountered some learning curves when it comes to operating within a new payment system. Contessa is a subsidiary of Amedisys, which the home health and hospice provider acquired in 2021 for $250 million. 

The Denver Hospice Announces Grand Opening of Second Optio Palliative Care Outpatient ClinicNews ReleaseDecember 7, 2023Denver, CO—Focused on providing comfort and a better quality of life for patients facing serious or chronic illnesses, The Denver Hospice is opening its second palliative care outpatient clinic, Optio Palliative Care Clinic-South. ... “Finding care for patients with serious illness presents significant challenges and stress for those patients and their caregivers. Optio Palliative Care Clinics provide support so that patients have the best possible quality of life while they complete their treatments, and caregivers get their questions and concerns answered about the care. Easy, convenient, access to palliative care services is a key reason for opening our second outpatient palliative care location,” said Ernesto Lopez, president of The Denver Hospice.