Literature Review

Sabbaticals provide a critical lifeline for sustainable medical careers [podcast] MedPage Today's KevinMD.com; podcast by KevinMD; 2/14/26 Palliative care physician and certified physician development coach Christie Mulholland discusses her article “Why every physician needs a sabbatical (and how to take one).” Christie reveals the harsh reality that while sabbaticals exist on paper, unwritten rules often prevent doctors from accessing this critical recovery tool until it is too late. She shares her personal journey of taking an unsanctioned, unpaid break to combat burnout and how that decision allowed her to return to medicine with renewed purpose. 

Suffolk paramedic students participate in 1st clinical hospice-specific rotation Patch, Westhampton-Hampton Bays, NY; by Lisa Finn; 2/12/26 In a groundbreaking new program, Suffolk County Community College paramedic students have begun participating in New York State’s first hospice-specific clinical rotation at the East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Westhampton Beach. As part of their program training, Suffolk students already complete more than 600 clinical hours in areas that overlap with emergency services, including emergency rooms, labor and delivery, and mental health, officials said. The new initiative introduces an unprecedented focus on hospice care within paramedic education, officials added.

How an ethics course can prep you for med school: It can strengthen communication and empathy and help with complex treatment and research decisions. U.S. News & World; by Neha Raju; 2/10/26 Medical school applicants often focus on the most tangible parts of preparation: grades, MCAT scores, clinical hours and research. Ethics courses, when considered at all, are sometimes treated as peripheral or “nice to have” rather than genuinely useful. That view misses how central ethical reasoning has become ...

Spreading the principles of palliative care to all corners Health Affairs; by Jessica Nutik Zitter; 2/2/26 My daughter Sasha is a first-year medical student. ... Most recently, she has been envisioning herself as a palliative care physician. She tells me it may be the only specialty that will allow her to practice her values. As a long-time palliative care physician who has acted as an evangelist for the specialty, I surprised myself with a reflexive response. “I’m not sure that’s the best choice for you,” I said. ... Something needs to change—for our patients and for ourselves. ... I propose several strategies ...

Effectiveness and impact of telehealth-integrated palliative care for persons living with dementia and their caregiversTelemedicine & e-Health; by Brooke Worster, Lizabeth Kaminoff, Amina Mason, Laura Pontiggia, Kayla Madden, Mackenzie Kemp, Amanda Guth, Nina Diamond, Allison Herens, Kristin Rising, Jeannette Kates; 12/25 In 2024, an estimated 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older were living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. Palliative care (PC) can improve quality of life (QOL) and reduce nonbeneficial care, yet persons living with dementia (PLWD) remain underserved. The intervention group [in this study] received up to two telehealth visits with a PC specialist, the patient (if able), and a caregiver (if participating). The intervention group had significantly fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations but no differences in QOL or caregiver burden.

Cultivating leaders in medicine: We can do better Medscape; by Aba Black, MD, MHS; 1/29/26 ... there’s no question that medicine as a field has lagged when it comes to propagating tenets of effective leadership. ... [Too] many doctors make it through the endurance run that is medical education without ever being told what makes a good leader. There’s good reason to want more doctors in leadership roles, as healthcare administrators with clinical expertise bring an important skill set to the challenges facing our healthcare system. While hospitals led by economists may fare better financially, physician-led hospitals are associated with lower mortality rates and higher patient satisfaction. 

Dementia care research and psychosocial factorsAlzheimer's & Dementia; by Bora Nam, Daren Huang, Hye-Won Shin, Eun Jeong Lee, Nicole Phan, Stacy W Yun, Van Ta Park; 12/25Older Korean adults traditionally engage in indirect communication and are uncomfortable with topics such as advance care planning and treatment options for health conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). The overarching goal of a national, culturally tailored, bilingual (English, Korean) community engagement project called, Koreans Invested in Making Caregivers Health Important (KIMCHI), is to educate and promote community discussions on aging and caregiving topics, such as advanced care planning/directives among older Korean Americans with ADRD and their caregivers. High satisfaction was reported, with 96.1% of participants expressing overall satisfaction, 90.7% learned something new about advanced directives, 94.1% found the presentations culturally relevant and applicable, and 76% expressed interest in learning more about ADRD.

Remembering the Holocaust with little-known story about a Jewish refugee and Cicely Saunders: Honoring the International Holocaust Remembrance Day - 80th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Husband with Parkinson's was admitted into at-home hospice program and has dramatically improved. Have others experienced this? Aging Care; by Klwolf; 1/21/26 My DH has Parkinson’s that has been getting progressively worse for months. In early December we had him assessed for hospice and he was admitted. Since then, he’s improved dramatically. Has anyone else experienced dramatic improvement AFTER hospice enrollment? The hospice staff simply shrugs and says this sometimes happens and that we need to be prepared for him to revert back to his previous state. Editor's Note: Many clinicians have seen individuals improve after hospice enrollment, often due to better symptom control, reduced stress, or consistent interdisciplinary care. The concern here is not the improvement itself, but the hospice team’s reported response. A shrug can feel dismissive to families already living with uncertainty. How do we teach teams to communicate about improvement—honoring hope while preparing families with clarity, compassion, and trust?

Video conversation aids to assist in goals-of-care discussions with older adults in a medical setting: A systematic reviewAmerican Journal of Hospice & Palliative Care; Ashna S Karpe, Mokunfayo O Fajemisin, Stephanie Martinez Ugarte, Lara Ouellette, Martin L Blakely, Gina H Khraish, Shreyans V Sanghvi, Min J Kwak, Jessica L Lee, Lillian S Kao, Thaddeus J Puzio; 12/25Goals-of-care (GOC) discussions align medical treatment with older adults' preferences, yet are hindered by communication barriers, provider discomfort, and misinformation. Video-based decision aids improve understanding and reduce decision conflict, though data on their use in older populations remain limited. Video variability and differences in measured outcomes limited comparisons and generalizability. Video-based decision aids show promise for improving knowledge and aligning treatment preferences. Further studies are needed to investigate the impact of video-based decision aids on GOC conversations in older adults in acute care settings.

Sound of silence: Training physicians to avoid interrupting the diagnosis Medscape; by Donavyn Coffey; 1/21/26 When Anthony Back, MD, a palliative care specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle, takes medical trainees on his rounds, they often come out of the exam room with the same observation: “You didn’t say anything.” Back is among a growing number of physicians who practices silence with his patients, intentionally giving them more time to share and process before he chimes in, and teaching the next generation of doctors to do the same.  ... Emerging evidence and educator experience suggest that silence is not an absence of skill but a deliberate diagnostic and relational tool.

New voices, shared vision: How emerging research scholars are supporting HPNA's research prioritiesJournal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing; by Jyotsana Parajuli, Kristin Levoy, Avery C Bechthold, Lyndsay Degroot, C Robert Bennett, Shena Gazaway, Heather Coats; 12/25Evidence-based practice is critical to providing high-quality hospice and palliative nursing care. Professional organizations, such as the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), play a critical role in shaping the future of the hospice and palliative nursing field by identifying gaps in the science and fostering collaborative research efforts to inform evidence-based practices. One such driver is the tri-annual HPNA Research Agenda, which outlines key research priorities in hospice and palliative nursing, ultimately aiming to accelerate translation of research into practice and practice improvements. In this article, 6 emerging research scholars in the field and present and former co-chairs of the HPNA Emerging Research Scholar Special Interest Group reflect on the experiences that led them to pursue research careers in hospice and palliative nursing. Through a process of collective self-assessment, these scholars articulated their shared progress toward addressing the research priorities outlined in the 2023-2026 HPNA Research Agenda as a means of generating insights to direct future research efforts in the field.