Literature Review

‘Innovative opportunities’ exist in growing need for trauma-informed bereavement care Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 3/11/25 Hospices may be seeing a growing need for trauma-informed bereavement services on the horizon. Shaping their grief support programs with this trend in mind will be pivotal to hospices’ ability to expand the depth and reach of their services. This is according to Chloe Bishop, bereavement and social work supervisor at Maryland-based Frederick Health Hospice. The community-based nonprofit provides hospice and palliative care, as well as grief support and veterans programs.Editor's note: For expert, professional continuing education, certifications, conferences, resources, and certifications that encompass the wide scope of bereavement care (including trauma), examine ADEC - the international Association for Death Education and Counseling.

104-year-old WWII veteran honored for his service while in hospice WCCO via CNN Newsource, Cottage Grove, MN; by Reg Chapman; 3/9/25 A World War II veteran in Minnesota has the honor of being the oldest resident in his town. Even at his remarkable age, Don Tietz has not lost his wit or his humor. After he was drafted during World War II, Tietz found himself a long way from his hometown farm. Tietz served as a truck driver, hauling ammunition across America’s campaign into Europe. ... “We spearheaded across France,” he said. ... He also faced the true grim realities of war. ... “There was 212, only 12 of us came back,” he said. ... Tietz now represents a different era of grit and perseverance. Surrounded by friends and family, the Allina Health Hospice Team showed their gratitude to Tietz for his service by giving him a heartfelt ceremony, where he was awarded a pin and certificate. Most importantly, Tietz was given an opportunity to reflect on all of those years.Editor's note: Click here for the We Honor Veterans Program developed by NHPCO (now the National Alliance for Care at Home) in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Intervention increases palliative cancer care consultations/lowers EOL care CancerNetwork.com; by Roman Fabbricatore; 3/11/25A palliative care (PC) intervention combining algorithm-based automated identification of patients eligible for PC led to an increase in PC visits and a decrease in end-of-life systemic therapy among patients with cancer, according to a randomized clinical study (NCT05590962) published in JAMA Network Open. ... "...  Prior efficacy trials in oncology have tested early PC in controlled, primarily academic settings.2To our knowledge, this is the first effectiveness randomized clinical trial of algorithm-driven default specialty PC in community oncology.”

Trends in Pediatric Palliative Care Research (TPPCR) 2025; Issue #2 Siden Research Team; Commentary by Kim Mooney-Doyle, MD; 3/6/25Kim Mooney-Doyle – University of Maryland School of Nursing, MD, USA: I am a nurse scientist dedicated to advancing family health in serious pediatric illness. I have studied parent-sibling relationships and the social ecological factors that impact it for the past decade. ... Siblings are special and, too often, invisible in the care of seriously ill children, adolescents, and young adults. Two articles in this month’s collection bring the needs and experiences of siblings into focus using a family lens. A key take-away from this important work is that while siblings want to communicate with their parents about their brother’s or sister’s illness, it can be hard to initiate such conversations. As clinicians and researchers, we can work with families to devise strategies that foster these conversations, such as providing prompts or a scripted conversation guide to help a parent engage the sibling.  

Assessing pain, anxiety and other symptoms of nursing home residents unable to speak for themselves Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, IN; by Kathleen T. Unroe, MD, MHA; 3/10/25 Revamped tool reliably addresses physical and emotional distress, well-being and end-of-life symptoms. As many as half of nursing home residents are cognitively impaired and may be unable to communicate symptoms such as pain or anxiety to the staff and clinicians caring for them. Therefore, information needed for the evaluation of symptoms and subsequent treatment decisions typically does not reliably exist in nursing home electronic health records (EHRs). A new paper reports on the novel adaptation of a commonly used symptom assessment instrument to more comprehensively acquire this difficult-to-obtain data with the ultimate goal of enabling knowledge-based expansion of palliative care services in nursing homes to address residents’ symptoms. 

Lending a helping harp: Music therapist Sarah Ohr uses the power of music in hospice care VolumeOne - Theme Issue "Death & Taxes"; by Barbara Arnold; 3/6/25... Dubbed the "hospice harpist," Sarah is a harpist and more. Music has been part of her life since a child growing up in Green Bay, where her parents adopted Sarah and her adopted brother Steve separately from South Korea.  ... “Harp and piano are my musical loves,” Sarah noted in an interview. ... Two events, which both occurred in early April 2018, served as life-changing catalysts for Sarah: her brother, Steve, was murdered in Chicago, and Sarah received a cancer diagnosis that would require major surgery. ... [Click on the title's link to read Sarah's career journey as a performer and into music therapy.] ... [Now, Sarah serves St. Croix Hospice in Eau Claire, WI as a board certified music therapist.] According to Sarah, there is a perception that a patient can request her to entertain them. In reality, in order for Sarah to offer support to a patient, medical necessity must be present. “First, I need to be called in as part of the care team, ... Next, I meet with the patient or the patient’s family to conduct an assessment. In super simple terms: is there social isolation, depression, anxiety, pain management, or a neurological reason, by which music can fulfill a need?"Editor's note: Find professional music therapists at the Certification Board for Music Therapists.

The Medical Minute: Measles cases rising in the US, what you can do PennState, Hershey, PA; 3/6/25 A case of measles in a child was confirmed in Montgomery County on March 2 ─ the first reported case in the state in 2025. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 164 measles cases in nine states. Texas alone has seen at least 140 cases since late January, including one unvaccinated child who died. Measles is a preventable, highly contagious, airborne virus that can cause serious health complications, including death, especially in children under 5, said Dr. George McSherry, division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital. “Measles is a very serious illness. It’s one of the most infectious of the infectious diseases,” McSherry said. “If you put a person with measles in a room with 100 unimmunized people, 90 will get it.” Click on the title's link for more important information. 

Understanding a patient’s AI medical journey The Hastings Center; by Ian Stevens, Erin William, Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pion, and Vardit Ravitsky; 3/5/25As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into U.S. health care, patients should know the ways in which AI is being used in their care, concludes a new paper, “Bring a ‘Patient’s Medical AI Journey’ to the Hill.” Transparency is crucial for interactions between health care providers and individual patients, as well as for systemic level uses of AI, including:

Local teen helps patients at the end of life preserve memories 10 Tampa Bay YouTube channel; 3/6/25 A bittersweet and beautiful story this morning. A local teen is helping  patients at the end of life preserve memories to pass on to family. The Lifetime Legacies program through Empath Health can be in the form of a journal or a video, too. ... It's hard to think about, losing a loved one, but this is a great way to celebrate their lived experience. ... While chipping away at Bright Futures Community service hours, Zoe Lazanowski found purpose and passion. ... A volunteer with Suncoast Hospice (a member of Empath Health), Zoe helps interview patients who want to be part of the Lifetime Legacies program. Memories are documented from their childhood, family history, and sharing special stories. "One of my favorite things to ask was what advice they would have for the family ..."

Palliative care clinicians goals-of-care notes more extensive than other providers’ documentation Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 3/5/25 A team of researchers has developed a standardized goals-of-care note to document patient wishes in the electronic medical record. Many patients do not experience goals-of-care conversations in a timely manner. But even among those who have, their wishes can get lost if they are not documented. The standardized note created by a research team from the Regenstrief Institute, the Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana University Health can help health care providers be aware of and access patients’ goals of care, according to lead investigator Dr. Alexia Torke. ... The research on the note was published in the American Journal of Medicine.

[Scotland, UK] ‘There’s still hope and joy to be had’: Art adds colour to end-of-life hospice care The Sunday Post; by Paul English; 3/2/25 For Alison Couston, hope is as simple as a brush stroke. ... Alison might have been forgiven for abandoning her creative energies following a devastating diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) last year. ... Alison’s speech, mobility, balance and co-ordination have been affected in the period since her diagnosis. But rather than giving up, the Glasgow theatre producer is still pushing creative boundaries. ... Now Alison is herself receiving the benefit of artistic practice at a challenging time as a weekly visitor to the art room at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park. ... “Because of her diagnosis, she has certain limitations now and we had to work together to overcome those. She has been painting with her non-dominant hand and has embraced a more abstract expressive approach.” ... Alison’s paintings are now being gathered together for a book ... Alison said: “The book was my idea first of all as a way to raise money for the hospice. I thought if I sold my paintings in book form it would encourage more donations. 

Parting Stone celebrates serving 10,000 families with solidified remains service Business Insider, Santa Fe, NM; Press Release; 3/5/25Parting Stone, an innovative death care company transforming the way families memorialize loved ones, is proud to announce that it has served 10,000 families with its solidified remains service. … s more families choose cremation for a loved one or pet, they seek meaningful ways to navigate grief, Parting Stone has emerged as a trailblazer in reshaping the narrative around death and memorialization. By offering a new form of remains that resembles a collection of 40–80 smooth stones, the company is helping people find comfort and connection in the grieving process. Solidified remains are a complete alternative to conventional “ashes.” … The National Funeral Directors Association predicts that by 2030, nearly 80% of Americans will choose cremation over traditional burial. Editor’s note: Click on the title’s link to see a photo.

Medical student brings music to end-of-life care CBS News Mornings; by Elizabeth Cook, Analisa Novak; 3/4/25 Melanie Ambler, a Stanford medical student, uses music to comfort patients in palliative care, composing songs based on their life stories. Her work, which blends medicine and the arts, has caught the attention of leading researchers and changed her own perspective on life and death. ... [After asking the perons meaningful, relevant questions about their life, Melanie composes personalized music on the spot, in the moment. Like,]  "transport me to your favorite place on earth," or "what are you famous for within your friends or your family," and when I get that response I then can accentuate some of the drama or the emotions or the personality and energy that the patient and the family share with me. You enter these patients' lives at the end of their life.