Literature Review

How Tampa Bay is rethinking healthcare for long-term growth Capital Analytics Associates (CAA); by Andrea Teran; 9/16/25 Tampa Bay continues to attract tens of thousands of new residents each year, while Florida’s senior population is on pace to double by 2050. In response, healthcare leaders across the region are being pushed to rethink how care is delivered, expanded, and made more equitable. ... [A session titled] "Future-Proofing Health: What Tampa Bay’s Rise as a Global Healthcare Hub Means for Communities" ... brought together executives from Tampa General Hospital, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Empath Health, and Gulfside Healthcare Services. Over the course of the discussion, panelists explored five central themes: collaboration, access, innovation, workforce development, and the region’s evolving healthcare identity.

Hospice of the Chesapeake’s Open House connected to past, present and future Maryland Bay Net, Pasadena, MD; by Hospice of the Chesapeake; 9/13/25 A celebration of past, present and future brought together volunteers, donors, elected officials and community members for Hospice of the Chesapeake’s Community Open House on Sept. 9. The event was held on the nonprofit’s John & Cathy Belcher Campus in Pasadena. It included tours of the four buildings and the many gardens on the 7-acre campus and an opportunity to both reminisce and share new ideas.

An artisan gifts her time and talents to hospice Parkview Health, Fort Wayne, IN; by Alison Eckert; 9/14/25 ... At [her hospice volunteer] orientation, Barbara Wyatt decided to share one of her favorite pastimes. "I do stained glass as a hobby," she said. ... She brought four of her stained-glass angels to give to members of the hospice team. They eagerly accepted the gifts and her offer to make similar keepsakes for hospice patients and their loved ones. From that point on, Barbara would have no trouble finding new homes for her handcrafted guardians. ... Barbara believes that although not everyone is religious, many people are spiritual. In her experience, angels serve as a universal symbol of guidance and peace. ... Since starting her volunteer role in 2024, Barbara has created more than 250 stained glass angels to share with patients and their loved ones. 

Top ten tips palliative care clinicians should know about intentionally interprofessional collaboration Journal of Palliative Medicine; by Michelle M Milic, DorAnne Donesky, Naomi Tzril Saks, Rebecca Cammy, Constance Dahlin, Susan DeSanto-Madeya, Tracy Fasolino, Seiko Izumi, Amanda Kirkpatrick, Joshua R Lakin, Vickie Leff, Kashelle Lockman, Jennifer Walter, William E Rosa, Cara L Wallace; 9/9/25 This article supports individuals to practice at the top of their education, clinical training, and scope of practice while maximizing the functionality of the palliative care team as a whole. We intentionally use the term interprofessional rather than interdisciplinary to clarify that we are focused on collaboration of team members who represent multiple professions or occupations that require specialized training and meet ethical standards (e.g., nursing, chaplaincy, social work, medicine, and pharmacy) rather than interactions among specific fields of study (e.g., cardiology, nephrology, and oncology).

Has human life expectancy already peaked?Vice; by Luis Prada; 9/10/25 For most of the 20th century, human life expectancy skyrocketed. Advancements in hygiene science, a wide variety of medical innovations and discoveries ... have all helped our collective life expectancies tremendously. According to a new study, however, we may have topped out. In the study, published in PNAS and spotted by Science Alert, an international team of researchers crunched the numbers on people born between 1939 and 2000 in 23 high-income countries, using six different forecasting models.Editor's Note: I recall a hospice CE conference around 2005, where a healthcare data statistician presented projections on mortality trends. Based on the previous century’s gains, the data suggested that babies born then could live well past 100—with 120 years as a realistic possibility. This new study raises the provocative question of whether those optimistic forecasts may already have reached their limits.

‘A playbook for best practices’: ASCO and COA release updated Oncology Medical Home Standards The ASCO Post; by ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology); 9/10/25 ASCO and the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) have released updated standards for its Oncology Medical Home (OMH) certification program, which were initially codified and published in 2021. The 2021 systematic literature review focused on the topics of OMH model of care, clinical pathways, and survivorship care plans. Among the 2025 updates are new standards that address “just culture” and safety in oncology, multidisciplinary team management, and geriatric assessment.

New Salem-based hospice opens with focus on nursing staff wellness Salem Reporter, Salem, OR; by Hailey Cook; 9/11/25 After 12 years working as a hospice nurse, Christie Rivelli reached her breaking point. The pressure had built since the pandemic, when her workload went from 15 patients at a time to 28. ... By opening a new, locally-owned hospice company, they’re bucking a trend. ... Solterra currently has a staff of 19, with a range of one to three decades of experience in hospice care. As a nurse herself, Rivelli said she’s prioritized her staff’s workload and benefits. Everyone starts by getting training about post-traumatic stress disorder, and she said new hires have had trouble adjusting to a slower pace of work. ... Rivelli said. “Downtime in your workday should be built in … but boy, that’s not how it’s been in hospice.” She said some companies will assign 40 patients to one nurse, which forces the nurses to do pop-in check-ups rather than getting to know their patients. It can also mean the patient will see a rotation of unfamiliar faces rather than one nurse.

Hospice AI - Summarize national and state hospice utilization trends over the past 10 yearsHospice & Palliative Care Today staff; 9/15/25Today we asked ChatGPT to summarize hospice utilization trends over the past decade. One "key takeaway" was that growth is slowing nationally, suggesting hospice has matured in penetration, though opportunities remain in underutilizing states. Click here for the 4-page detailed summary, including AI-generated charts. Of note, while the AI-generated charts were correct, the accompaning text was incorrect - reinforcing the need for humans to double-check output!

Holistic nursing in BSN programs: A patient-centered approach Nevada State University; 9/9/25 ... Holistic care in nursing reflects a broader vision, encouraging nurses to see patients as whole people rather than conditions to be managed. Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs are responding by weaving holistic care into both coursework and clinical experiences. From teaching cultural sensitivity and ethics to encouraging self-care, these programs prepare nurses to build stronger relationships with patients while promoting healing on multiple levels. The result is a patient-centered approach that benefits individuals, families, and communities alike.

Evaluating the clinical reasoning of generative AI in palliative care: A comparison with five years of pharmacy learners Journal of Palliative Medicine; by Mikaila T Lane, Toluwalase A Ajayi, Kyle P Edmonds, Rabia S Atayee; 9/9/25Context: Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models (LLMs), offers the potential to augment clinical decision-making, including in palliative care pharmacy, where personalized treatment and assessments are important. Conclusions: While LLMs [large language models] show potential for augmenting clinical decision-making, their limitations in patient-centered care highlight the necessity of human oversight and reinforce that they cannot replace human expertise in palliative care. This study was conducted in a controlled research setting, where LLMs were prompted to answer clinical reasoning questions despite default safety restrictions.

[New Zealand] 'Cuddle beds' for terminally-ill hospice patients BBC News, New Zealand; by Jack Silver; 9/5/25 A hospice in Guernsey has installed seven "cuddle beds" for patients with life-limiting or terminal illnesses. The beds, which cost £17,000 each, widen to allow patients to lie next to and embrace their love ones or pets. Les Bourgs Hospice, in St Andrews, said the beds brought "comfort, dignity, and human connection" to patients and their families. Rob Jones, from Les Bourgs, said the beds would help with the hospice's mission to "support people at one of the most difficult times of their life."

A workflow initiative to increase the early palliative care referral rate in patients with advanced cancer MDedge - Federal Practitioner - Quality Improvement; by Judy Lim, MD and Linda D. Nguyen, DNP, NP-C, MD; 9/3/25 ... The American Society of Clinical Oncology and the World Health Organization recommend that every patient with advanced cancer should be treated by a multidisciplinary palliative care team early in the course of the disease and in conjunction with anticancer treatment. Despite the documented benefits and the recommendations, early PC is still not often offered in clinical practice.