Literature Review

A workflow initiative to increase the early palliative care referral rate in patients with advanced cancer MDedge - Federal Practitioner - Quality Improvement; by Judy Lim, MD and Linda D. Nguyen, DNP, NP-C, MD; 9/3/25 ... The American Society of Clinical Oncology and the World Health Organization recommend that every patient with advanced cancer should be treated by a multidisciplinary palliative care team early in the course of the disease and in conjunction with anticancer treatment. Despite the documented benefits and the recommendations, early PC is still not often offered in clinical practice. 

Family says bear attack victim to be transferred to hospice care KNWA/KFTA FOX-24, Little Rock, AR; by Justin Trobaugh; 9/9/25 The family of a Franklin County man says Sept. 8 that his condition has worsened and that he has been moved to hospice care. Vernon Patton, 72, is being held at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences after being attacked by a bear in the Mulberry Mountain area of Franklin County on Sept. 3. Patton was working on a gravel road with his tractor near Mulberry Mountain Lodge Park when the black bear attacked, according to Keith Stephens with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC). His son arrived to check on him and saw the bear actively attacking. Editor's Note: Executive leaders, traumatic events like this that lead to a hospice admission call for extra support for your clinical, direct care professionals and volunteers. They can experience secondary trauma as they tend horrific wounds, both physical (for the patient) and emotional (for family and friends). Also, what policies do you have in place to balance important community news and family privacy (e.g. staff or volunteers posting anything on social media).

The hidden crisis in serious illness care and how we fix itMedCityNews; by Dr. Mihir Kamdar; 9/7/25 Every year, millions of Americans with serious illnesses find themselves caught in a dangerous limbo: not sick enough to qualify for hospice, but far too ill to be served by our traditional healthcare system. The result is care that’s expensive, fragmented, and often traumatic. These patients are shuffled between a revolving door of emergency rooms and ICUs, enduring a cascade of aggressive interventions that don’t match their goals or improve their quality of life. This approach not only undermines quality, it drives healthcare spending through the roof, particularly in the last year of life. This is the hidden crisis in serious illness care. And it’s getting worse. At the root of the problem is what many in the field call the “hospice cliff.” ...

When I go, I'm going green KFF Health News; by Paula Span; 9/8/25 More Americans are choosing burials in which everything is biodegradable. ... “Do you see a lot of interest in green burials?” I asked the friendly town cemetery commissioner who was showing me around. “I don’t think we’ve had a traditional burial in two years,” he said. “It’s all green.”

[Germany] Yes, we (still) can! A qualitative study on the dynamic process of team resilienceJournal of Management; Silja Hartmann, Matthias Weiss, Martin Hoegl; 7/25Research on psychological resilience in the workplace is on the rise, aiming to better understand how to successfully manage adverse events. To address this research gap, we conducted a qualitative study with a palliative care team that experienced work-related adverse events. This model specifies the experience of adverse events as loss events and illustrates how teams can counteract these losses and enact team resilience through the relational process of caring. Caring in teams can be enacted through four dimensions, which we refer to as understanding, being with, doing for, and enabling. By enacting these caring dimensions, teams can heal social safety and collective action capabilities and can moreover build valuable resources, which may buffer resource loss and fuel resource growth in subsequent team resilience episodes.

Flu, COVID-19 vaccination rates falling among health care workers WWLP, Springfield, IL, originally Boston, MA; by Alison Kuznitz; 8/14/25 The rate of Massachusetts health care workers vaccinated against the flu and COVID-19 is declining, despite state officials pushing for the vast majority of providers to get their shots in order to stunt the spread of illnesses. The Department of Public Health’s goal is to achieve an annual flu and COVID immunization rate of 90% or higher among eligible health care personnel at all licensed facilities and emergency medical services. ... During the 2024-25 respiratory virus season, an average of 83.5% of providers in acute care hospitals were vaccinated against the flu, ... That compares to ... 52.3% in nursing homes, 68.7% in rest homes, 52.2% in adult day health programs, 21.2% in EMS and 65.4% in hospice. Editor's Note: Is 65.4% high enough for health care workers who consistently tending many of the most vulnerable persons receiving health care? What are the vaccination rates for your organization? 

Simulation, flipped classroom, and reflective dialogue in socioemotional training in end-of-life care: Perspectives of nursing students Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing (HPNA); by María Lanza, Rebeca Abajas, Mar Aparicio Aparicio, Ángeles Melero, Carmen Ortego; 8/1/25The implementation of active methodologies in end-of-life education can play a crucial role in stimulating participatory learning and facilitating the acquisition of socioemotional competencies. ... From the students’ perspective, simulation, reflective dialogue, and flipped classroom enhance the conceptual learning process and facilitate students’ socioemotional preparation to face this complex and challenging professional situation. Editor's Note: Today’s tech-savvy nursing students show that simulation, reflective dialogue, and flipped classrooms build the person-centered qualities hospice and palliative care need. Use these methods—inside and outside the classroom—to improve patient/family care, teamwork, and self-care. For more information: 

Demystifying dying in end-of-life-care: A phenomenological perspective Death Studies; by Elisabet Sernbo, Magnus Weber, Charlotta Öhrling, Stina Nyblom; 8/26/25 This article focuses on experiences of the process of dying. The empirical material consists of interviews with patients in palliative care and their significant others. The analysis draws attention to the lived experiences of the participants - embedded in time, identities, social relations, and everyday lives - and to how the possibility of sense-making is conditioned by the lifeworld. ... [This] needs to be understood as reorienting work: supporting people when their lines become disrupted or need to be altered. This requires a display of radical empathy ...

Grief and the road to resilience Jewish Journal; by Chaim Steinmetz; 8/2/25 Mourning is unfashionable. A popular platitude is that funerals are meant to be a “celebration of life.” This seemingly innocuous phrase is actually a subtle form of peer pressure, demanding the heartbroken mourners remain upbeat so they don’t drag the mood down for the rest. The bereaved are counseled to look for “closure” and find a way to continue with their lives. ... This is a picture of mourning done wrong, an unwillingness to encumber one’s heart with the ugly and unruly emotions of loss and bereavement. Judaism emphasizes the importance of mourning; it affirms an ethics of memory, which obligates us to continue to honor our deceased family and friends. It is unthinkable for someone to pass away and for everyone else to just “move on” afterwards. Love demands that we mourn. Beyond the moral imperative, Judaism recognizes that mourning is transformative. Grieving is the first step towards resilience.

Combining clinical insight and data-driven expertise: The case for morning huddles in primary care HEAL Security; by Becky Trotter and Aliya Ali; 7/1/25 The daily huddle, also called a morning huddle, is a brief standup meeting commonly associated with inpatient and surgical care. In these settings, safety is the predominant focus of the meeting. However, the same idea can be used in primary care settings to get care teams ready for the patients scheduled for that day. Morning huddles are an opportunity to merge clinical knowledge with data and analytics to help ensure primary care teams are aligned and specific care needs are recognized before patients walk into the practice. Editor's Note: Is this practice so new? Back in the 1990's at Hospice & Palliative Care of Louisville, each morning began with going through my hospice voicemail box for our well-oiled system of receiving and replying to voicemails for the whole team or individual members, from on-call staff, from leaders from throughout our organization, or other voicemails. These first-thing-in-the-morning communication/tech "huddles" were so crucial then--and are important today (with better tech and data)--because our patients often die during the night. Or, a new patient must be assessed. Or, the patient was transferred from home to an inpatient unit. Or, you know the common, literally life-changing needs. Is your hospice behind the times or leading the way with today's clinical communications and data?

Hearing loss, loneliness may contribute to cognitive decline in older adults McKnights Senior Living; by John Roszkowski; 7/28/25 Hearing loss and loneliness can contribute to dementia in older adults, and simple interventions to address hearing loss, such as hearing aids, may reduce cognitive decline in some cases, new research finds. ... Results of the study showed that higher levels and worsening self-reported hearing impairment were associated with steeper decline in episodic memory issues and executive functioning (verbal fluency). Further, the researchers found that individuals who were not socially isolated but still felt lonely saw their cognitive decline accelerate if they were deaf.

Hospices navigating ethically complex end-of-life situations Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 7/25/25 The final stages of life can be filled with challenging, nuanced situations for some patients and their families. Ensuring goal-concordant care and autonomous end-of-life decision-making requires careful ethical, legal and operational considerations. Staff education and proactive policy development are important for hospices to harness in complex situations, according to Jeanne Chirico, president and CEO of the Hospice & Palliative Care Association of New York State (HPCANYS). A number of difficult life circumstances can limit hospices’ ability to provide patients with care that is in line with their wishes, Chirico indicated. Hospices need to have a firm understanding of the possible ethical and legal limitations that staff may encounter, as well as establish procedures that help address them. 

Prairie Doc Perspective: Navigating spiritual pain and grief Rawlins Times - Prairie Doc Perspective, Rawlins, WY; by Rev. Kari Sansgaard, Avera Hospice; 7/23/25 After nearly 20 years of parish ministry, I entered the world of health care, which, I learned, abounds in acronyms. My first clue was in chaplaincy training, known as CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education), the required education for most hospital and hospice chaplains. CNA, SoB (Shortness of Breath), PRN, HoH (Hard of Hearing), and a myriad of other acronyms are now part of my own vernacular. QoL (Quality of Life) is the big one in hospice, sometimes called “comfort care.” When quantity of life becomes diminished, it’s all about quality. ... In hospice, when death is impending, spiritual pain can lead us to ponder existential questions, such as the following: