Literature Review

Hospice nurse plays instrumental role in patient’s joyCity Sun Times, by Lin Sue Flood; 3/27/24You see it at every symphony performance - people so enraptured by the music that their eyes close and their fingers dance in the air. Stuart Brown is one of those people. But as illness began to limit his mobility, the 81-year-old relinquished the thought of ever attending a live concert again. That’s when his Hospice of the Valley nurse secretly reached out to the Phoenix Symphony with a request to hold a small private concert in his Scottsdale home. “We absolutely can make this happen for him and his family,“ said Valerie Bontrager, director of community engagement. Editor's Note: Need some inspiration? Read this heart-warming story.

Why California doesn't know how many people are dying while homelessKQED, by Vanessa Rancano; 3/25/24 The grants manager and his team at Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless knew people were dying on the streets, but they wanted more than anecdotal evidence; they wanted data that could show them the big picture and help them hone their strategies. ... Alameda County’s latest homeless mortality report is now prompting the team to focus on how to extend palliative care services to unhoused people with terminal illnesses. Garlin estimates almost one-fifth of those who died in 2022 would likely have been eligible for hospice care.

Last Dance: Holland Home throws prom for retirees, end-of-life patients Fox 17 West Michigan, by Sam Landstra; 3/23/24 The timeless nature of the suit and tie was again proven on Saturday by senior promgoers at Holland Home as they danced with their longtime dates at the Grand Rapids retirement home and hospice care facility. ... Donning formal wear donated by Belding Beauties & Bro's, residents walked and wheeled down a fourth floor hallway in Holland Home, gathering in a room decorated with streamers and disco balls.

4 things nobody tells you about watching a loved one die of cancer The New York Post; by Jessica Ariel Wendroff; 3/23/24 ... “The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present,” the Princess of Wales, 42, revealed in a bombshell videotaped statement Friday. ... While the royal insisted she is “well and getting stronger every day,” other patients’ real pain begins when the cancer has spread too far and chemotherapy and radiation no longer work, so doctors stop treatment. As the daughter of a Stage 4 bladder cancer patient, I’ve empirically learned four realities that people usually don’t talk about ...

Physicians often shy away from preparing their patients to dieToday'sHospitalist, by Colleen Poggenburg, MD, MS; 3/22/24 There's beauty in death if we can tolerate looking. ... The beauty in death is the reflections that occur in the weeks, days and minutes prior to it, which together make up a summary of someone’s life. Why then do physicians view this time-honored decline as a series of clustered medical problems, when it really is just someone moving toward death? Are we so concerned about treating just one more condition, and do we actually think it will solve the growing list of medical problems that dying patients have? ... I compared dying to pregnancy to “soften” the description of this decline. Here’s how I see that comparison: ...Editor's Note: The author offers a fascinating, meaningful comparison of physician/patient conversations with someone who is pregant versus someone who is dying. I encourage you to share this article with your clinical leaders (and adapt it for staff), as this model beautifully reframes important conversations that can empower patients and their families.

Student-run Arizona non-profit uses origami to connect with hospital [and hospice] patients The State Press, by Pippa Fung; 3/19/24The Wishing Crane Project, founded by Arizona student Charles Zhang, serves hospice and hospital patients through art. In the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, a young girl tried to fold 1,000 paper cranes in the hopes that it would help her push through a terminal illness. Years later, students across Arizona and at ASU are folding their own cranes [and writing hopeful messages] to support others through their difficult journeys. 

Giving hospice patients a dignified end-of-life experience Steve Adubato On the Air, with Charles Vialotti, MD; 3/13/24On--location at Villa Marie Claire Residential Hospice, Steve Adubato is joined by medical director, Charles Vialotti, MD to talk about his personal commitment to hospice care and giving residents and their families a dignified end-of-life experience.

Navigating difficult conversations with patients with terminal cancer diagnoses Oncology Nursing News, by Darlene Dobkowski, MA; 3/18/24 Although oncology nurses need strong communication skills to help all of their patients navigate their cancer journeys, it is critical to have the ability to have difficult conversations with patients who received a terminal diagnosis, ... Betty Ferrell, Ph.D., M.S.N., CHPN, director and professor in the Division of Nursing Research and Education in the Department of Population Sciences at City of Hope in Duarte, California, said in an interview with Oncology Nursing News. For the past 24 years, her institution has been directing a project called the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC), which is a palliative care training program and includes a module focused on communication.  ... “One of the things that we teach nurses is … that your No. 1 job is to listen,” Ferrell said. “Another thing that we say to nurses is, it is not your job to have all the answers. Patients ask very unanswerable questions. ‘Why me?’ is not an answerable question. But when a patient says, ‘Why me,’ then we want nurses to have good communication skills to say, ‘I can imagine why you're asking that question. Because as you've shared with me, you had no idea that you might be diagnosed with cancer, or you're the first person in your family to ever have cancer.’”

Most Americans would rather feel 25% healthier than live 25% longer. Here’s how to lengthen your health span Fortune Well, by Alexa Mikhail; 3/15/24 Across all generations, more Americans would choose to feel 25% healthier than live 25% longer. Broken down, 60% of Gen Z and millennials say they would choose to feel healthier rather than live longer as compared to 67% of Gen X and 70% of Boomers, according to a consumer trends report from The New Consumer in partnership with Coefficient Capital. Only 15% of Boomers, 22% of Gen X, and about a third of Gen Z and millennials say they would rather live 25% longer.

Poem: I knew you had been sick for quite a while. I had no idea you were walking your last mile.The Andalusia Star News, by Vickie C. Wacaster, "a patient and hospice advocate for Aveanna Hospice"; 3/14/24. This poem is at the end of an article, "COLUMN: Hospice helps make most of all moments."I knew you had been sick for quite a while. I had no idea you were walking your last mile. Had I known your time was so near, Despite my fear, I would have talked more, touched more, and loved more. I asked about your care, your prognosis, your life, Why couldn’t they tell me? I was your wife. Or was I in denial? Did someone try to tell me? Did I refuse to hear? Could I not see? Did I refuse to accept? Your diagnosis and prognosis, did I reject? Was it because of unbelief? That death snatched you as a thief.We could have made the most of the time you had left, If only we had not been afraid of what we felt.

Is extending life by weeks worth the toll some cancer drugs take? Doctors push for 'common-sense oncology' CBC News, by Amina Zafar and Christine Birak; 3/11/24 People may celebrate a 2-week improvement in survival without acknowledging costs. When a treatment buys a few weeks or months but comes with with a lot of side-effects, then the perspectives of people with cancer may differ, says Dr. Christopher Booth. ... The goal of what they call "common-sense oncology" is to prioritize treatments that meaningfully improve survival and quality of life. They aim to address what they see as problems in the field, such as a lack of critical thinking in oncology training, falling standards for drug approvals and avoidance of end-of-life discussions.

Patients with metastatic cancer state more accurate prognosis when in poor healthMedscape / YouTube, Dr. Maurie Markman; 3/7/24Dr. Maurie Markman discusses a paper focused on the controversial oncology topic of prognosis beliefs among patients with metastatic cancer.Editor's Note: For the transcript, click on the link beneath the YouTube's description that has the text "medscape.com/viewarticle."