Palliative Care: If it makes a difference, why wait?
Journal of Clinical Oncology
With prognostic indicators at hand, toss a coin. Half of all patients with cancer might be predicted to die as a result of the disease within 5 years. Ask yourself whether an individual patient might die within a year, and you are likely to be incorrect in your estimate. But what is certain is that you will not be able to cure everyone.
Palliative medicine under the microscope: Not every patient with cancer needs palliative care
US – HemOnc Today
In this edition of HemOnc Today, a physician gives his opinion on the important topic of palliative management.
ONS: Successful early integration of palliative care requires multidisciplinary approach
US – HemOnc Today
A multidisciplinary approach is necessary to support the integration of palliative care at the time of cancer diagnosis, according to a position statement issued by the Oncology Nursing Society.
American Lung Association releases palliative care worksheet
US – Palliative in Practice
The American Lung Association has published an excellent resource detailing how palliative care can help lung cancer patients deal with the myriad of complications that may arise.
Helping patients understand palliative care
US – The ASCO Post
The booklet: ‘Palliative Care: Improving Quality of Life for Patients and Families’ is one of the latest additions to the ASCO Answers collection of patient education materials developed by ASCO for people with cancer and their caregivers.
End of life planning website launched for LGBT seniors
Canada – CBC News
LGBT End of Life Conversations helps seniors find services that are LGBT-friendly
Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease often withheld from patients, report says
US – The Washington Post
Medical professionals are much less likely to tell their patients of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease than diagnoses of other chronic or incurable diseases such as cancer, often because of a reluctance to inflict emotional distress, a nonprofit’s annual report has found.
Global health experts outline lessons to be learned from Ebola epidemic
Health Canal
In a paper published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine, experts in global health from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Global Health and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, write that, while the international response to the epidemic included unprecedented measures that appeared to be gaining control of the outbreak by the end of 2014, the past year has also revealed critical weaknesses in the global public health system.
Sharing the burden of deciding near the end of a child’s life
ehospice International children’s edition
Important research by Mirjam de Vos from the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands takes an in-depth look at the process of making decisions to withdraw treatment for children at the end of life and gives insight into how parents and doctors can communicate in order to share the burden of making these difficult decisions.
Developing hospice services for people living with dementia
ehospice UK
Emma Hodges from St Giles Hospice writes for ehospice about the hospice’s work to improve care and support for people with dementia – both within the hospice walls and out in the community.
Launch of HPCA Compassion Wall
ehospice South Africa
The foundation of hospice care is the value of compassion. The compassionate care that hospice workers (staff and volunteers) provide for patients and families has the goal of relief of suffering.
IOM ‘Dying in America’ National Action Conference
ehospice USA
At a recent national conference held in Washington, DC, NHPCO wholeheartedly voiced its support for the findings and recommendations of the comprehensive IOM report that highlights the critical need for improvement in end of life care in America.
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