Literature Review

Questions to ask when choosing a memory care facility The Kansas State Collegian; 3/10/25 ...  Your goal is to find a community where your family member can feel safe, truly cared for, and supported during this next chapter of their life. To help, we’ve put together a list of questions you should ask when touring memory care facilities. These questions will help you cut through the sales pitches and get to the heart of what each community offers. ...

[Multi-cultural] Honouring traditions: Integrating cultural wisdom into palliative care - Saif Mohammed ehospice; by Saif Mohammed; 3/10/25[Personal Story] ... "Reflecting on this experience, I realize that caregiving is deeply embedded in tradition and culture, a natural extension of communal life." Caregiving is as old as humanity itself. One of the earliest known cases of palliative care dates back 45,000 years to Shanidar 1, a Neanderthal male found in present-day Iraq. His skeletal remains indicated severe injuries, yet he had survived for decades, suggesting that his community had cared for him. This example highlights that palliative care is a deeply human and historical practice, far predating modern medicine. Cultures around the world continue to recognize the importance of caregiving, often embedding it in traditions and religious beliefs. ... In some societies, the emphasis on independence can make caregiving more complex, as patients may refuse assistance to maintain self-sufficiency. ... Palliative care workers must be equipped to understand and respect the cultural traditions of the communities they serve. This requires training in cultural competence, which involves:

‘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.

Children's Respite Homes of America aims to address the severe lack of children's respite and palliative care homes in the U.S. Cision PRWeb, Scottsdale, AZ; by Children's Respite Homes of America; 3/11/25 Twenty years ago, there were no dedicated children's respite and palliative care homes in the United States. Today, there are only a handful. By contrast, the United Kingdom—a country one-fifth the size of the U.S.—has developed a network of 54 children's respite and palliative care homes. Based on population, the U.S. would need over 250 similar homes to provide equitable access. The disparity leaves countless families without essential respite care, and Children's Respite Homes of America aims to change that. ... Cottor, who co-founded Ryan House in Phoenix, Arizona, alongside his wife Holly and with strong community support, established Children's Respite Homes of America with an ambitious but necessary goal: to develop 50 children's respite and palliative care homes in 50 cities within the next five years. ...

PBS documentary, Going Your Way, premieres nationally March 31 Nine PBS, St. Louis, MO; by Sarah Brandt; 3/11/25 A new documentary produced in St. Louis by Nine PBS, Going Your Way, will get a national premiere on PBS stations across the country on Monday, March 31. It will air locally at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Central, following the network’s popular series Antiques Roadshow. The documentary debuted locally on Nine PBS in October 2024. Going Your Way focuses on the personal, medical and spiritual issues surrounding end-of-life care, the options available, and steps that can be taken to put those wishes to practical use. The documentary’s title highlights the active role many people are now taking to ensure their death goes according to their own plans and wishes. The film was produced with expert consultation from the Oasis Institute and features insights from health professionals in St. Louis, ... [and] personal stories of families dealing with these decisions and issues ...

Q&A: Nursing and the integration of technology at HIMSS25 mobihealthnews; by Anthony Vecchione; 3/10/25 Lavonia Thomas, nursing informatics officer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, sat down with MobiHealthNews at the HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas last week to discuss how nurses are implementing digital tools that help improve patient care.  ... [Thomas:] "We are having some great success in nurses' engagement and their feeling of being highly engaged. A nurse is not going to tell you, "I love the electronic health record" or certain things about technology. What is important is that they feel that they are heard, that their feedback is taken into the design and development and that their workflows are assessed." ...

Partners In Care hosts A Year to Live book discussion group starting April 5 Cascasde Business News; by CBN; 3/11/25 The Bereavement Department in conjunction with leadership at Partners In Care is hosting a community group to explore messaging in Stephen Levine’s book A Year to Live through a series of monthly sessions in 2025 and early 2026. In A Year to Live, Stephen Levine, author of the perennial bestseller Who Dies? teaches us how to live each moment, each hour, and each day mindfully—as if it were all that was left. On his deathbed, Socrates exhorted his followers to practice dying as the highest form of wisdom. Levine decided to live this way himself for an entire year, and now he shares with us how such immediacy radically changes our view of the world and forces us to examine our priorities. 

Mass General Brigham begins 2nd round of layoffs Becker's Hospital CFO Report; by Alan Condon; 3/10/25 The second of two rounds of layoffs at Mass General Brigham began March 10, with about 1,500 employees reportedly affected by the overall workforce reductions, according to The Boston Globe. The layoffs, the largest in the Somerville, Mass.-based health system's history, were announced in early February. The workforce cuts stem from "the same unrelenting pressures affecting many healthcare systems across the country," as the system faces a projected budget gap of $250 million within two years, a spokesperson told Becker's. Mass General Brigham, the largest health system in the state, said the layoffs primarily affect nonclinical and nonpatient-facing roles to "enhance efficiency, reduce costs and maximize support for front-line clinicians." 

El Paso doctor pays close to $500K to settle allegations of hospice healthcare fraud CBS 4 News, El Paso, TX; by David Ibave; 3/10/25 A doctor in El Paso agreed to pay almost half a million dollars on Monday to settle allegations that he was paid off by a hospice center to commit healthcare fraud back in 2021. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, John Patterson M.D. has agreed to pay the United States $468,626 to resolve allegations that he received kickback payments from Nursemind Home Care Inc. to certify patients for hospice care when they were not eligible for these services, submitting false claims to federal healthcare programs.

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.”

We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn't a stronger connection between people than storytelling. ~ Jimmy Neil Smith, Founder and President Emeritus of the International Storytelling Center