Literature Review

2024 budget and paylines update: [$12.5 million for palliative care research]National Institute on Aging, by Kenneth Santora; 3/28/24The recently signed into law H.R. 2882, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024,  includes full-year NIH funding through Sept. 30, 2024. ... The budget designates a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) research, including $90 million for NIA and $10 million for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; as well as $12.5 million for palliative care research. 

Art exhibit in Sandy centers experiences of grief OPB, by Sheraz Sadiq; 4/3/24 Art and writing prompts were used during grief support groups offered by Mt. Hood Hospice to help participants process their experience with grief. Dozens of pieces of artwork, poems and other forms of writing created during those sessions are featured in "Grief Made Visible," an exhibit now in its second year that will open on April 5 at AntFarm Café and Bakery in Sandy, OR.

Vietnam veterans group salutes Mish, the World War II vet in hospice care who adopted them NBC News KGET.com, Bakersfield, CA; by Robert Price;  4/2/24Ray Mish’s military service to this country ended with World War II, but his service to the community of Bakersfield and to his fellow veterans never ended. As the number of Kern County veterans of World War II gradually diminished over the years, and Ray Mish saw the brotherhood of fighters he so cherished slowly erode, he looked elsewhere for that special sort of camaraderie. He found it in a generation-younger group of local Vietnam War veterans. ... This week [as Mish rests at home receiving hospice care], 24 days before his 100th birthday, a dozen members of Bakersfield’s Vietnam Rat Pack converged on his home in north Bakersfield. ...

Remembering my daughter while being a cancer survivor myself Coping, by Dottie Monroe; 4/1/24  Her name was Jill, my daughter. She was a beautiful, sensitive woman who loved animals and the joys of nature. ... Can you imagine that there is any parent in the world who wouldn’t give up their own life to save their child? Or question why my child and not me because that seems so wrong? Sometimes there is no explaining the why of things, although I gave it thought for a long time. Then one day I was done with “why.”

As America’s population ages, women shoulder the burden as primary caregivers PBS News; by Ali Rogin, Claire Mufson, and Satvi Sunkara; 3/30/24 Currently, 1 in 6 Americans is older than 65, a number that’s projected to rise to 1 in 4 by 2050. As older Americans’ needs for medical care and other support grow, women bear the biggest part of the burden of caring for them. Ali Rogin speaks with some women about their experiences and author Emily Kenway about the often unseen costs of caregiving. 

Elevating quality, outcomes, and patient experience through Value-Based Care: CMS Innovation Center’s Quality PathwayNEJM Catalyst; by Susannah M. Bernheim, MD, MHS; Noemi Rudolph, MPH; Jacob K. Quinton, MD, MPH; Julia Driessen, PhD; Purva Rawal, PhD; and Elizabeth Fowler, PhD, JD; 4/3/24The U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is launching a new Quality Pathway to elevate patient-centered quality goals in the design and evaluation of alternative payment models. The Quality Pathway will align model design around quality goals; elevate outcomes and experience measures, particularly patient-reported outcomes; and ensure that evaluations have the ability to assess the impact of models on primary quality goals. These determinations will help the Innovation Center make critical decisions about which models to scale or expand in the pursuit of improving the quality of care for people with Medicare and Medicaid.

Bereaved Parent Support Study: Seeking Participants Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center/University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Cancer, St. Jude Children's Hospital, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; 4/2/24This program is offered as a research study examining three types of support for bereaved parents who have lost a child to cancer. The study is jointly sponsored by Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center/University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Cancer, St. Jude Children's Hospital, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; however, families need not have received care from one of these institutions. ...The counseling will be provided through videoconferencing and all activities for this study can be completed in [the participant's] home. ... There will be no charge for any support offered through the study. [Click on the title's link for more information.] 

Meet the women who give end-of-life care to Utah’s homelessGood Things Utah, by Nicea DeGering; 4/2/24A Utah non-profit’s mission is to provide medical help and end-of-life care to those in our community experiencing homelessness. The Inn Between has been providing unique services in Salt Lake City for eight years.  ... [The] mission of The Inn Between is to end the tragedy of vulnerable people dying on the streets of our community by providing medical respite and end-of-life care to those experiencing homelessness.The group provides a home environment that enables adults experiencing homelessness to gain access to professional hospice care from State-licensed hospice agencies; undergo life-saving medical treatment; stabilize in preparation for surgery; or recuperate from serious illness, injury, or surgery. Editor's Note: Read more to meet Jillian Olmsted, Executive Director and Kellie Mierement, Community Engagement Manager.

Man with chainsaw assaults Vermont hospital workers, destroys property Becker's Hospital Review, by Madeline Ashley; 4/1/24 A man was taken into custody by Vermont State Police after assaulting staff and destroying property with a chainsaw at St. Johnsbury-based Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital. State troopers apprehended Tyler Roy, 27, on March 25 in the hospital parking lot "actively assaulting staff," according to a March 31 Vermont State Police news release. Mr. Roy was taken into custody and is cited to appear in Caledonia County Superior Court on April 6.

Northwell hospital nurses cancel strike Becker's Hospital Review, by Kelly Gooch; 4/1/24Members of the New York State Nurses Association have called off a planned April 2 strike at New York City-based Staten Island University Hospital after reaching a tentative agreement with management on a new labor contract. The union represents 1,300 workers at the facility. ... SIUH is part of New Hyde Park, NY-based Northwell Health, a 21-hospital system with more than 85,000 employees total. ... The agreement "adds nurse staffing on units that need help"; includes an expedited process for creating staffing standards in new units; and features wage increases that total 22.12% over three years and include annual pay increases, market adjustment pay, and experience pay, the union said.

Should we be using palliative care for scleroderma? The Medical Republic, by Karina Bray; 4/2/24Almost three-quarters of systemic sclerosis patients could benefit from specialist palliative care, according to Australian research. The first-of-a-kind study, published in Arthritis Care & Research, set out to examine and quantify the need for palliative care to address high symptom burden as an integrated part of systemic sclerosis management. ... “Almost 75% of SSc patients may benefit from specialist palliative care input to manage specific severe symptoms, and the overlapping nature of such symptoms highlights the complex symptom management needs of SSc patients,” the authors wrote. 

Hospice facility “House of Goshen” opening in Flossmoor in April Crusader Staff; 3/29/24 House of Goshen has announced a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new 14-bed, 14,000-square-foot inpatient Hospice House, scheduled for Thursday, April 11, at 4 p.m. The facility broke ground at 19810 Governors Highway in March 2023. The upcoming April ceremony marks a milestone in the organization’s commitment to enhancing end-of-life care in the Village of Flossmoor, Illinois. ... The new facility will operate under the umbrella of Oasis Hospice.