Prevalence Of Palliative Care Research Articles

Non-pharmacological interventions in primary care to improve the quality of life of older patients with palliative care needs: a systematic review protocol

IntroductionIn the last decades, the number of older people living with chronic diseases has rapidly increased. The prevalence of palliative care needs in this population can reach 17%, making the...

Palliative care training: a national study of internal medicine residency program directors in the United Arab Emirates

BackgroundInternal medicine residents are responsible for providing much of the direct care for palliative and terminally ill patients in teaching hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). To date, little systematic information is available on the prevalence of palliative care (PC) programs or faculty in UAE academic hospitals, or on the nature of PC education in internal medicine residency programs in the country.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with program directors of all 7 internal medicine residency programs in the UAE. Qualitative content analysis was conducted to identify recurring themes.ResultsAll program directors agreed that PC knowledge and skills are an essential component of training for internal medicine residents, but have had variable success in implementing the components. Three themes emerged, namely lack of structured PC training, perceptions of resident preparedness, and barriers to implementing a PC curriculum.ConclusionInternal medicine residency programs in the UAE currently lack structured, mandatory PC curricula and have limited opportunities for formal teaching and assessment of PC knowledge and skills. The planned development of comprehensive oncology and palliative care centers and ongoing curricular reform in teaching hospitals in the country will provide important opportunities to train a cadre of competent health professionals to provide high quality palliative and end-of-life care to UAE patients and their families.

Emergency Department-Based Palliative Interventions: A Novel Approach to Palliative Care in the Emergency Department.

Background: Patients with cancer and palliative care needs frequently use the emergency department (ED). ED-based palliative services may extend the reach of palliative care for these patients. Objective: To assess the feasibility and reach of an ED-based palliative intervention (EPI) program. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study of ED patients with active cancer from January 2017 to August 2017. Subjects: Patients with palliative care needs were identified using an abbreviated 5-question version of the screen for palliative and end-of-life care needs in the ED (5-SPEED). Patients with palliative care needs were then automatically flagged for an EPI as determined by their identified need. Measurements: The primary outcome was the prevalence of palliative care needs among patients with active cancer. Secondary outcomes were the rate of EPI services successfully delivered to ED patients with unmet palliative care needs, ED length of stay (LOS), and repeat ED visits within the next 10 days. Categorical variables were evaluated using chi-squared or Fischer's exact test as appropriate. Continuous variables were evaluated using analysis of variance. Results: Of the 1278 patients with active cancer, 817 (63.9%) completed the 5-SPEED screen. Of the patients who completed the screen, 422 patients (51.7%) had one or more unmet palliative care needs and 167 (39.6%) received an EPI. There were no differences in ED LOS or 10-day repeat ED visit rates between patients who did or did not receive an EPI. Conclusion: This ED-based intervention successfully screened for palliative needs in cancer patients and improved access to specific palliative services without increasing ED LOS.

The Main Diseases and Syndromes Identified in Elderly and Senile Patients Hospitalized at Inpatient Clinics of Different Specialties

In total, 661 patients have been examined in inpatient clinics; of these, 234 subjects are aged 60 to 102 years and 427 subjects are aged 18 to 59 years. The variants of pathologies that distinctly increase in prevalence with age are identified. First and foremost, these are pathologies of the locomotor system, gastrointestinal tract, and cardiovascular system. Conversely, cerebrovascular accidents (strokes) are prevalent in subjects under 60 years old, while the incidence of CAD and angina pectoris without the development of myocardial infarction in elderly and senile subjects insignificantly increases as compared to subjects under 60 years. The specific clinical and etiological features of senile asthenia (as an independent disease) and age-related cognitive disorders are identified as compared with the classical asthenic and cognitive disorders that develop in young and middle-aged subjects. This necessitates the need for specially trained geriatricians to diagnose and treat patients over the age of 60 with a comprehensive geriatric assessment of the patient’s state. It is desirable to reinforce the staff of the geriatric inpatient clinics with neurologists and psychiatrists with priority given to diagnosis and treatment rather than the prevalence of palliative care.

Characterization of people with hemato-oncological diseases admitted to an emergency unit

Abstract Objectives: To identify the demographic and clinical profile and the reasons for seeking care of people with hemato-oncological diseases attended at an emergency unit. Methods: This descriptive, correlational, quantitative study was carried in the emergency unit of a general teaching hospital in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, with a sample of 65 patients with hemato-oncological diseases. Simple descriptive statistics were used for the evaluation of the data. Results: There was a predominance of males (61.5%), with a mean age of 63.4 ± 1.7 years, of white skin color (95.4%), with incomplete elementary education (55.4%) and married (53.8%). There was a high rate of patients with cancer receiving end-of-life care (52.3%), a prevalence of palliative care (55.4%), with the outcome most observed being discharge from the unit (52.3%). According to the primary site of the cancer, a predominance of lymphomas and leukemias was observed (30.8%). Regarding the reason for attending the unit, pain (41.5%) was the most prevalent symptom. Conclusion and implications for practice: Identifying these characteristics can contribute to nursing care for patients with hemato-oncological diseases, considering the specificity of this care and the care practice in emergency units.

Barriers to traditional palliative care for stage IV breast cancer patients, 2003-2012.

120 Background: Multiple factors may impact ability of patients with Stage IV breast cancer to access traditional palliative care (PC), which centers on disease-altering procedures such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. To further investigate barriers to accessing PC, the National Cancer Data Base data from 2003-2012 was analyzed. Methods: Data was analyzed from 55,490 patients diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer registered in the National Cancer Data Base. The outcome variable was patient use of PC. The predictor variables included sex, age, race, Charlson Comorbidity index, insurance status, income, education, year diagnosed, distance travelled, facility type, diagnosing/treating facility, and diagnosis to treatment interval. Univariate analysis was used to determine the prevalence of palliative care according to predictor variables. Multivariate Logistic regression was used to investigate the effect of each predictor variable on patient use of PC while adjusting for all other predictive factors. Results: Of the 55,490 Stage IV breast cancer patients analyzed, 17.38% received palliative care. Radiation therapy (8.76%) and chemotherapy, hormone, and other systemic treatments (4.51%) contributed to the bulk of PC. In multivariate analysis, after adjustment for all other predictor variables, race, income, education, distance travelled, and diagnosis to treatment interval were each shown to significantly predict use of PC. Black and Asian patients were 11.4% and 26.1% less likely to use PC than their white peers. Lower zipcode income, higher zipcode education, and shorter distance travelled were predictors of increased PC use. Shorter diagnosis to treatment interval was a predictor of increased PC use; compared to patients with a 31+ day interval, those with a 0-7 day interval were 67.71% more likely to receive PC and 8-31 day interval, 37%. Conclusions: Using univariate and multivariate analysis, we identified factors that may act as barriers to access traditional palliative care for patients diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. We observed that race, income, education, distance travelled, and diagnosis to treatment interval significantly predicted the use of palliative care.