Literature Review

Living with dementia: To improve lives, we need to change how we think and talk about this experience in aging societies EurekAlert! - AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science); peer reviewed publication by The Hastings Center; 9/24/25 To experience or even contemplate dementia raises some of the most profound questions: What does it mean to be a person? How does someone find meaning in life while facing progressive neurological deterioration? ... To improve the lives of our fellow citizens who are living with dementia or providing dementia care, all of us need to pay attention to how we imagine and talk about these interwoven and increasingly common experiences, concludes Living with Dementia: Learning from Cultural Narratives in Aging Societies, a special report published by The Hastings Center for Bioethics. This report responds to calls from health care and social service practitioners for new ways to depict and talk about dementia, a collective term for Alzheimer disease and related dementias. Editor's Note: Click here for free access to multiple articles in this crucial report, such as

AI can aid in end-of-life care decisions, but can't replace human teams MarylandToday; by Fid Thompson; 9/19/25 “Would I be surprised if this person were not alive 12 months from now?”  This so-called “surprise question,” combined with clinical risk calculators, helps doctors make decisions about care for patients near the end of life. Increasingly, clinicians also use artificial intelligence (AI) models to predict remaining life expectancy and better inform palliative care decisions. In a recent study out in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, a University of Maryland researcher sought to understand what palliative care teams think about these AI tools that give an estimated life expectancy or prognosis in end-of-life care, and found mixed reactions. 

The hall of future jobs: A living exhibit of what AI can't replace Impact Lab; by "Futurist" Thomas Frey; 9/16/25 Step into the year 2035, and the world of work looks radically different. AI has become a co-pilot in nearly every industry, automation is woven into the fabric of daily life, and robotics has mastered an astonishing range of physical and cognitive tasks. Yet even in this hyper-automated society, there remain roles that resist full automation—jobs that require human presence, judgment, creativity, or empathy in ways machines can only support, not replace. ... Here are 10 jobs that will likely still demand distinctly human labor:

What makes a good death? GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Care Podcast for Every Healthcare Professional; by Alex Smith with Karen Steinhauser, Rasa Mikelyte and Edison Vidal; 9/18/25What is a “good death”? How should we define it, and who gets to decide? Is the concept of a “good death” even useful? ... In today’s podcast, we are honored to have Karen join us to discuss this pivotal study and the nature of a “good death”. We are also joined by Rasa Mikelyte and Edison Vidal, co-authors of a recent study comparing the perspectives of people with dementia in the UK and Brazil on what constitutes a good death. In addition to exploring the nature of a good death and their individual studies, we will discuss:

Top ten tips palliative care clinicians should know about intentionally interprofessional collaboration Journal of Palliative Medicine; by Michelle M Milic, DorAnne Donesky, Naomi Tzril Saks, Rebecca Cammy, Constance Dahlin, Susan DeSanto-Madeya, Tracy Fasolino, Seiko Izumi, Amanda Kirkpatrick, Joshua R Lakin, Vickie Leff, Kashelle Lockman, Jennifer Walter, William E Rosa, Cara L Wallace; 9/9/25 This article supports individuals to practice at the top of their education, clinical training, and scope of practice while maximizing the functionality of the palliative care team as a whole. We intentionally use the term interprofessional rather than interdisciplinary to clarify that we are focused on collaboration of team members who represent multiple professions or occupations that require specialized training and meet ethical standards (e.g., nursing, chaplaincy, social work, medicine, and pharmacy) rather than interactions among specific fields of study (e.g., cardiology, nephrology, and oncology).

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.

Hands Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA); by R. Jordan Williams, MD, MPH; 8/13/25Lend me your hand Callused or calaminedWrinkled or plump,Nails bittenNails extendedSplintered and pittedNails neatly or never cropped.Lend me your hand Strong or weak Cold or warmingSwollen and swanned; Gnarled in knots ...Editor's Note: Continue reading this powerful poem. Additionally, JAMA published this description of the poem, "Poetry and the Medicine of Touch" by Rafael Campo, MD, MA: "In this deeply felt poem, the hand becomes a potent metaphor for our shared humanity ... Aspiring clinicians are still taught to assess, to palpate, to diagnose through touch. Yet, as “Hands” reminds us, patients’ hands hold far more than clinical signs—they reflect stories, histories, fears, and hopes. ..."

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 ...