Literature Review

Incorporating bereavement into the continuum of careMedpage Today, by Charles Bankhead; 4/4/24... Despite being integral to high-quality, family-centered healthcare, bereavement support often is poorly resourced, even described as the "poor cousin of palliative care." ... To develop a framework for compassionate communities requires shifting bereavement care from "an afterthought to a public health priority," wrote Wendy G. Lichtenthal, PhD, of the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, and co-authors in Lancet Public Health. ... In an ideal setting, bereavement care begins with pre-death grief education, continues through the dying process and end of life, and transitions into community-based support and psychosocial services, as needed. .. The [continuum of care] model comprises five essential "pillars":

In the spirit of Ramadan: Diverse access to palliative care Medscape UK, by Dr. Mohammed Sattar; 4/4/24 St. Gemma’s Hospice hosted their first ever Ramadan community iftar in Moortown, Leeds on March 19, with almost 100 guests in attendance. For me, this was a historic moment. This iftar was about creating a sense of community. ... [I've] seen the visionary leadership that is provided by St. Gemma’s senior team, ... taking careful consideration of what hospice and palliative care services should look like in an ever-changing Leeds population. The team members ask themselves some difficult questions about how to become an inclusive service for all and no faiths. The iftar, the sunset meal when Muslims break their daily fast, was a testament to that. ...

Malnutrition, thyroid cancer result in high rates of death among home care, hospice patients, studies finds McKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 4/5/24 Two separate studies analyzing disparities in patients’ place of death revealed high death rates related to malnutrition and thyroid cancer among patients receiving care at home and in hospice. The first study, “Disparities in Place of Death Among Malnourished Individuals in the United States,” found that more than 31,000 malnutrition-related deaths occurred among home care and hospice patients between 1999 and 2020. ... Another study, “Disparities in the Place of Death for Patients With Malignant Neoplasms of the Thyroid Gland,” discovered that roughly half of all patients who died of thyroid cancer between 1999 and 2020 did so in home care or hospice.

FDA approves AI Tool that can detect sepsis Forbes, by Cailey Gleeson; 4/3/24 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an AI tool that can diagnose sepsis, Prenosis, the company behind the software, announced Wednesday, the latest in a series of agency approvals for AI diagnostic tools. ... At least 350,000. That’s how many adults who develop sepsis die from the condition or are discharged to hospice annually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Mortality, hospice use rates differ in assisted living communities depending on whether memory care is offeredMcKnights Senior Living, by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 4/4/24Assisted living communities that provide memory care services may attract residents closer to the end of life or promote hospice use at the end of life compared with assisted living communities without such services, according to the findings of a new study. ... Researchers from the Brown University School of Public Health, the University of Melbourne and the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing examined whether end-of-life outcomes — mortality and hospice use — differed between assisted living facilities with and without memory care services among 15,152 residents who moved into larger communities between 2016 and 2018.Editor's Note: Click here for the source article, "Do end-of-life outcomes differ by assisted living memory-care designation?"

Survey shines light on health care discrimination against LGBTQ+ people  KFF Health News; 4/3/24Members of the LGBTQ+ community are twice as likely to experience discrimination in health care, a survey found. ... The survey, conducted by KFF, noted that members of the LGBTQ community have historically faced disparities while receiving health care, including challenges to accessing mental and physical health care. Editor's Note: This article includes specific examples from Utah, Colorado, and New Hampshire.

A pilot of a Telehealth-Hospice transition intervention for children and young adults with cancer Journal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Nicholas P DeGroote, Ebonee Harris, Anna Lange, Karen Wasilewski-Masker, James L Klosky, Joanne Wolfe, Dio Kavalieratos, Katharine E Brock; 3/31/24, online ahead of printConclusions: Participants found coordinated telehealth visits to be feasible, acceptable, and satisfactory. Telehealth may be utilized as an acceptable alternative to clinic visits and fosters hospital-hospice collaboration.

Integrating palliative care screening in the intensive care unit: A quality improvement projectCritical Care Nurse; by Traci N. Phillips, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, CCRN; Denise K. Gormley, PhD, RN; Sherry Donaworth, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, FNP-BC; 4/1/24Background: Patients admitted to the intensive care unit have complex medical problems and increased rates of mortality and recurrent hospitalization for the following 10 years ...  Delayed access to palliative care can result in untreated symptoms, lack of understanding of care preferences, and preventable admissions. Conclusion: The screening process can maximize the benefit of palliative care services with early patient identification, improved consultation efficiency, decreased critical care resource use, and reduced readmission rates.

I'm 34 and terminally ill, but I'm not scared of death anymore Metro / Microsoft Start, by Jyoti Smith; 3/31/24 I’ve spent the last nine years living with the idea of dying. In 2015, aged 25, I received my terminal diagnosis. ... My prognosis: three-to-five years. But here I am, almost 10 years on, at 34, and I’m living life to the fullest – if on the edge – and it’s largely down to one thing. Embracing hospice care. ... Editor's Note: Jyoti describes her journey and the care she now received from Marie Curie (hospice), in the United Kingdom.

[Rural Hospitals] A popular healthcare myth debunked Becker's Hospital CFO Report, by Laura Dyrda; 3/28/24Many in the healthcare industry assume rural hospitals are inherently worse off financially than urban hospitals. It's easy to see why. ... But a February Kaufman Hall report refutes the financial divide between rural and urban hospitals. When comparing rural and urban hospitals as a collective, the firm found no statistically significant difference in average operating margin. Rural and urban hospitals on average have similar operating margins and financial performance. So why do we often associate more dire financial struggles with rural hospitals over urban ones?

Hospice providers serving assisted living residents: Association of higher volume with lower qualityJournal of American Geriatrics Society; by Wenhan Guo MS, MA, Helena Temkin-Greener Phd, Brian E. McGarry PT, PhD; 3/27/24Background: Assisted living (AL) community caregivers are known to report lower quality of hospice care. However, little is known about hospice providers serving AL residents and factors that may contribute to, and explain, differences in quality. We examined the association between hospice providers' AL patient-day volume and their quality ratings based on Hospice Item Set (HIS) and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospice Surveys.

How sales and marketing compensation can get hospices into hot waterHospice News, by Holly Vossel; 3/27/24Regulators are taking a closer look at how hospices pay their marketing and outreach workforces to curb fraudulent activity tied to referral streams. Federal and state regulatory agencies have systems in place to detect fraud, waste and abuse in hospice, and some are honing on oversight of sales, marketing and outreach staff payment arrangements, according to Ellen Persons, shareholder at Polsinelli Law Firm. 

The burden of getting medical care can exhaust older patients Navigating Aging, by Judith Graham; 3/27/24 [Ishani Ganguli] is the author of a new study showing that Medicare patients spend about three weeks a year having medical tests, visiting doctors, undergoing treatments or medical procedures, seeking care in emergency rooms, or spending time in the hospital or rehabilitation facilities. ... [Additionally,] more than 1 in 10 seniors, including those recovering from or managing serious illnesses, spent a much larger portion of their lives getting care — at least 50 days a year. ... When [treatment burden becomes overwhelming], people stop following medical advice and report having a poorer quality of life, the researchers found.