Search results for "terminal care"

Mapping palliative care provision in European prisons

2021

ObjectivesPrison populations around the world are ageing and numbers are rising, leading to greater demand for palliative care for prisoners approaching the end of life. This paper reports a survey that was undertaken by the European Association for Palliative Care Task Force on mapping palliative care provision for prisoners in Europe. The Task Force was established to begin to address the gap in research knowledge by exploring prison systems and care provision across different countries.MethodsThe survey, developed by the Task Force Steering Committee, consisted of 40 questions in six sections. It was completed through online searches; only data that were publicly available on the interne…

Prevalence and characteristics of prisoners requiring end-of-life care: A prospective national survey

2017

Background: Ensuring adequate end-of-life care for prisoners is a critical issue. In France, data investigating the impact of laws allowing release of seriously ill prisoners are lacking. Aim: To assess the number and characteristics of prisoners requiring palliative care in French prisons. Design: A prospective, national survey collecting data over a 3-month period. Setting/participants: All healthcare units ( n = 190) providing care for prisoners in France. The prison population was 66,698 during the study period. Data collection concerned prisoners requiring end-of-life care, that is, with serious, advanced, progressive, or terminal illness and life expectancy <1 year. Results: Estima…

[Recommendations for end-of-life care in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

2009

Over the last 20 years, advances in the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have improved survival even among patients in the most advanced stages of the disease, such as those requiring domiciliary oxygen therapy.1,2 This improvement—in principle a positive development—has given rise to considerable clinical problems associated with the establishment of a therapeutic ceiling and the difficulty of determining prognosis in some of these patients. In this situation, the clinician should consider introducing palliative care, that is, care aimed at improving symptom control, communication, physical activity, and emotional support, in order to achieve the best…

Palliative sedation in advanced cancer patients followed at home: A retrospective analysis

2012

Abstract CONTEXT: Data regarding palliative sedation at home in dying patients are lacking. OBJECTIVES: To describe the frequency, indication, and modality of palliative sedation (PS) in patients followed at home. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of home care cancer patients was performed. Patients who received PS before dying were selected and information about epidemiologic characteristics, indications, duration, drugs, and outcomes was collected. RESULTS: Of 370 medical charts of patients who died at home, 49 patients received PS before dying. PS was proposed by the team, relatives, or both in 63.3%, 4.1%, and 32.6% of cases, respectively. Delirium alone or in combination with other sym…

Palliative care quality indicators in Italy. What do we evaluate?

2012

Purpose In recent years, the number of palliative service providers has increased significantly. This expansion necessitates an evaluation in order to provide the basis for quality improvement of the care. Policymakers, managers of palliative care programs, and others committed to the improvement of end-of-life care need methods and criteria to measure and evaluate the care delivered. As quality measurement is expensive and difficult to undertake, it is fundamental that quality measures evaluate the right things. Quality evaluation in Italy is supported by health authorities who have developed some indicators of palliative care. The aims of this study were to give an overview of these indic…

Evaluation tools for spiritual support in end of life care: increasing evidence for their clinical application.

2015

Purpose of review To summarize current evidence on evaluation tools for spiritual care, paying special attention to recent validations and new instruments, systematic reviews, recent consensus on spiritual care and its measurement, plus other emergent topics. Recent findings The systematic review resulted in 45 identified studies, 14 of which were considered: five works addressed the need for development and validation of spiritual tools; three studies reviewed tools for spirituality assessment, interventions, or related concepts; three more covered the efforts to define guidelines and priorities for spiritual care and its measurement. Other topics such as pediatric spiritual care, the use …

Noninvasive Ventilation for the Treatment of Dyspnea as a Bridge from Intensive to End-of-Life Care

2009

Refractory Death Rattle: Deep Aspiration Facilitates the Effects of Antisecretory Agents

2011

Anticholinergic drugs, including atropine, hyoscine butylbromide, and scopolamine, have been shown to be equally effective in the treatment of death rattle. However, anticholinergic drugs may only be effective in reducing the production of further secretions, rather than eliminating the existing ones. A case is described in which a preventive procedure was undertaken to carefully eliminate secretions before starting anticholinergic drugs. Airway aspiration under light anesthesia removed secretions before starting anticholinergic drugs. Low doses of propofol were given intravenously to make a laryngoscopy feasible, allowing the complete aspiration of large amounts of tracheal secretions. No …

Improving End-of-Life Care in Hospitals

2013

Objectives: To explore and document the experiences and expectancies of bereaved family members concerning the end-of-life (EOL) care of their deceased relative in a general hospital setting. Methods: Cross-sectional study using a questionnaire that included open-ended questions. Free-text answers were evaluated with qualitative content analysis. A total of 270 family members provided information about improvements in inpatient care. Results: Families described structural deficiencies. Furthermore, they requested a more holistic patient health care beyond medical treatment and expressed the wish for more professional support for families. Discussion: The view of bereaved families confirmed …

IAGG/IAGG GARN International Survey of End-of-Life Care in Nursing Homes

2017

Item does not contain fulltext This article reports the findings of a survey on end-of-life (EOL) care in nursing homes of 18 long-term care experts across 15 countries. The experts were chosen as a convenience-based sample of known experts in each country. The survey was administered in 2016 and included both open-ended responses for defining hospice care, palliative care, and "end of life," and a series of questions related to the following areas-attitudes toward EOL care, current practice and EOL interventions, structure of care, and routine barriers. Overall experts strongly agreed that hospice and palliative care should be available in long-term care facilities and that both are define…