Literature Review

What it’s like to be…a hospice nurse Behavioral Scientist; by Dan Heath; 5/22/25 Comforting patients as they prepare to transition, navigating end-of-life regrets and frayed relationships, and providing support and advice for fearful families with Heather Meyerend, a retired hospice nurse. How does she know when the end is imminent? And what has the work taught her about the different ways we deal with death? In each episode of What It’s Like to Be…, bestselling author Dan Heath speaks with someone about what it’s like to walk in their (work) shoes.

"You're next": People are sharing the last words they heard someone say as they were dying, and they're not all inspiring BuzzFeed; by Mike Spohr; 5/21/25There's so much we don't understand about the end of life. Recently, we shared a post where Quora users shared their experiences being present for the final moments of someone's life...and hearing their last words. Well, as it turns out, BuzzFeed's readers wanted to share their experiences hearing someone's last words too, so we rounded them up here:

‘Marathon’ effort to refine end-of-life wound coding runs on McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Kimberly Marselas; 5/28/25 Two key wound care groups are finalizing a proposal for new codes that would help skilled nursing providers avoid newly created diagnoses gaps for end-of-life skin breakdown that could lead to missed reimbursement and potential liability risks. The push comes a year and a half after nursing homes won the right to stop coding wounds that occur as part of dying as pressure injuries, which can hurt their quality ratings. But they also lost any way to code or acknowledge treatment of such skin failure in the Minimum Data Set. ...

New law will fast-track completion of hospice death certificatesFlorida Politics; by Drew Wilson; 5/21/25 Grieving families will spend less time waiting on paperwork come July 1.Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed legislation that would take some stress off palliative care physicians who guide patients through their final hours, as well as the grieving families they leave behind. Sponsored by Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy, HB 647 would allow Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) to complete and file death certificates for hospice care patients. Valid death certificates must record both time of death and cause of death before the deceased’s remains can be turned over to a funeral director. Under current law, a doctor must determine the cause of death and sign the certificate. That will remain the case after Trabulsy’s bill goes into effect July 1 for non-hospice deaths.

White coats, heavy hearts: What to expect as a med student after your first patient death Medscape; by David Brzostowicki; 5/21/25 The first death of a patient represents a profound emotional turning point that reverberates throughout one’s career as a physician. In that critical moment, the shield of clinical detachment gives way to inevitable self-reflection. Daryl Eber, MD, recalls a jarring case of an intubated patient who extubated himself and quickly died after coding. The incident occurred in 2005 while Eber was doing rounds as a medical student at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center (renamed UF Health Jacksonville) in Jacksonville, Florida. Although the patient was not in his direct care, the swiftness with which death took the man has lingered with Eber for two decades. 

Q&A: Addressing palliative care in dialysis settings Physician's Weekly; interview with Jane O. Schell, MD; 5/20/25 Jane O. Schell, MD, discusses factors that impact use of palliative care in dialysis settings for patients in the United States, as well as potential solutions. 

Yes, you can die from a broken heartMedscape; by F. Perry Wilson, MD, MSCE; 5/14/25 A patient comes crashing into the emergency room with severe chest pain. The EKG looks like this: A patient comes crashing into the emergency room with severe chest pain. The EKG looks like this: [graphic]. As a doctor, if you see this, you’re calling the cardiac cath lab. This is an ST-elevation myocardial infarction — the big one — indicative of a blood clot blocking blood flow to a large section of the heart. The sooner you get that blood clot out, the better chance the patient has to survive. So the patient is rushed to the cath lab, and they find… nothing. Clear coronaries. No blood clot. Further questioning reveals that the patient, an older woman, lost her husband recently. This is stress-induced cardiomyopathy, medically known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC). It’s the pathophysiologic manifestation of a broken heart. First described in 1991, Takotsubo syndrome occurs in the setting of deep psychological, emotional, or physical stress.

Blessing hands, healing hearts: CHP honors nurses with special ceremony Hometown Stations - ABC, FOX, NBC, CBS, Delphos, OH (WLIO); by Todd Cummins; 5/15/25 A local nonprofit agency is recognizing the dedication of its staff with a special blessing ceremony. In honor of National Nurses Week, the staff of CHP Home Care and Hospice participated in a “blessing of the hands” — a centuries-old tradition meant to honor the vital role nurses play in healing and compassion.  The idea came from Colleen Quickery, the administrator of Hearth & Home in Van Wert. Chaplain Steve Haddix said he has performed about 240 blessings for staff across Paulding and Van Wert counties, as well as the Lima and Delphos offices. This marks the first year CHP has offered the ceremony, and it has had a powerful impact on many who received it.Editor's note: Reminder that CNA Week is June 12-18, 2025.

Exploring overlooked collaborative opportunities during end-of-life care Medical Xpress; by Institute of Science Tokyo; 5/14/25 [This study's researchers describe:] "Bereaved family members broadly recollected the mixed regretful actions and decisions that should have been taken during the end-of-life care process. Coordination and cooperation challenges that existed between health care professionals and family caregivers emerged as factors that impeded these actions at the time." [They identified three types of] unintended, percolated work (UPW). ...

Palliative and end-of-life care during critical cardiovascular illness: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association American Heart Association; by Erin A. Bohula, MD, DPhil, Michael J. Landzberg, MD, Venu Menon, MD, FAHA, Carlos L. Alviar, MD, Gregory W. Barsness, MD, FAHA, Daniela R. Crousillat, MD, Nelia Jain, MD, MA, Robert Page II, PharmD, MSPH, FAHA, Rachel Wells, PhD, MSN, and Abdulla A. Damluji, MD, PhD, MBA, FAHA on behalf of the American Heart Association Acute Cardiac Care and General Cardiology Committee of the Council on Clinical Cardiology; and Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing; 5/15/25 Abstract: Cardiac intensive care units are witnessing a demographic shift, characterized by patients with increasingly complex or end-stage cardiovascular disease with a greater burden of concomitant comorbid noncardiovascular disease. Despite technical advances in care that may be offered, many critically ill cardiovascular patients will nevertheless experience significant morbidity and mortality during the acute decompensation, including physical and psychological suffering. Palliative care, with its specialized focus on alleviating suffering, aligns treatments with patient and caregiver values and improves overall care planning. Integrating palliative care into cardiovascular disease management extends the therapeutic approach beyond life-sustaining measures to encompass life-enhancing goals, addressing the physical, emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual needs of critically ill patients. This American Heart Association scientific statement aims to explore the definitions and conceptual framework of palliative care and to suggest strategies to integrate palliative care principles into the management of patients with critical cardiovascular illness.

Virtual nursing at Hackensack Meridian Health is making nurses and patients happy Healthcare IT News; by Bill Siwicki; 5/12/25 In-hospital nurses can focus on more critical tasks and direct patient care while virtual nurses handle the routine monitoring and documentation tasks. Patients appreciate more personalized support and the overall hospital experience. Hackensack Meridian Health has made a conscious effort to identify ways to streamline administrative tasks for its bedside teams, minimizing non-clinical burdens for frontline staff. ... Early results show virtual nursing supports faster discharging procedures, coordinated care planning and optimization of in-unit nursing time through the shifting of the documentation burden.

AI tool uses face photos to estimate biological age and predict cancer outcomes Mass General Brigham - Technology & Innovation - Research; by Hugo Alerts, Ray Mak, Dennis Bontempi, Osbert Zalay, Danielle S. Bitterman, Fridolin Haugg, Jack M. Qian, Hannah Roberts, Subha Perni, Vasco Prudente, Suraj Pai, Christian Guthier, Tracy Balboni, Laura Warren, Monica Krishan, and Benjamin H. Kann; 5/8/25 Mass General Brigham findings suggest FaceAge tool could provide objective data to help inform treatment decisions in cancer care and other chronic diseases. Eyes may be the window to the soul, but a person’s biological age could be reflected in their facial characteristics. Investigators from Mass General Brigham developed a deep learning algorithm called FaceAge that uses a photo of a person’s face to predict biological age and survival outcomes for patients with cancer. They found that patients with cancer, on average, had a higher FaceAge than those without and appeared about five years older than their chronological age. Older FaceAge predictions were associated with worse overall survival outcomes across multiple cancer types. They also found that FaceAge outperformed clinicians in predicting short-term life expectancies of patients receiving palliative radiotherapy. Their results are published in The Lancet Digital Health.Editor's note: This summary article is published by the main source, Mass General Brigham. Various articles are being written about this new use of AI.

He was dying, Alabama sent him back to prison anyway AdvanceLocal - AL.com - Alabama Media Group; by Renuka Rayasam; 5/12/25 Brian Rigsby was lying with his right wrist shackled to a hospital bed in Montgomery, Alabama, when he learned he didn’t have long to live. ... Rigsby decided to stop efforts to treat his illness and to decline lifesaving care, a decision he made with his parents. And Rigsby’s mother, Pamela Moser, tried to get her son released to hospice care through Alabama’s medical furlough policy, so that their family could manage his end-of-life care as they saw fit. But there wasn’t enough time for the furlough request to be considered. After learning that Rigsby was on palliative care, the staff at YesCare, a private prison health company that has a $1 billion contract with the Alabama Department of Corrections, told the hospital it would stop paying for his stay and then transferred him back to Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, according to the hospital record his mom provided to KFF Health News. Moser never saw or spoke to her son again. “The last day I went to see him in the hospital, I was hoping he would take his last breath,” said Moser, a former hospice nurse. “That is how bad I didn’t want him to go to the infirmary” at the prison. A week later, Rigsby died ... in the infirmary, according to his autopsy report. Officials at the corrections department and YesCare did not respond to requests for comment.