Literature Review

Medical Aid in Dying and our ethical duties—Call to actionJAMA Health Forum; by Yesne Alici, Liz Blackler, Julia Danielle Kulikowski, Amy Scharf; 1/26Medical aid in dying (MAID) is legal in 11 US states and Washington, DC, and is being actively considered in 18 additional states ... In all jurisdictions where MAID is legal, hospital systems have the option to opt out of providing MAID services but are legally obligated to share information about where patients can access resources. We maintain that all hospital systems and individual clinicians have an ethical responsibility to go beyond simply sharing information. Patients are going to ask about MAID, and institutions are ethically obligated to establish comprehensive policies that empower and encourage their clinical staffs—primarily physicians but also nurses and advanced practice clinicians—to purposefully and thoughtfully respond. Here, we describe the experience of our institution, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), in developing policies and procedures to fulfill this responsibility and highlight lessons for other health care organizations and oncology practices seeking to accomplish similar goals.

Programs that pair older-adult mentors with medical students aim to overcome ageism Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC); by Bridget Balch; 2/4/26 ... About 1 in 5 people over age 50 report having experienced age discrimination in a health care setting, according to a 2015 study. It’s an issue that researchers at Yale School of Public Health estimate costs the health care system $63 billion a year and can have serious negative effects on the physical and mental health of those discriminated against. As the proportion of the population over age 65 is increasing rapidly, some medical schools have developed senior mentoring programs that pair medical students with older-adult mentors to help overcome stereotyping and ageism, and to give older adults opportunities to engage with and give back to their communities.

Critical illness versus end-of-life conversations: A novel curriculum for enhancing resident physician communication skillsJournal of Pain & Symptom Management; by Kristin A Juhasz, Luke Rosielle, Sohale Shakoor, Kristina Damisch, Brad King, Troy King, Megan Kammerer; 12/25End-of-life (EOL) discussions are of utmost importance to emergency medicine physicians, and residency programs vary in their training on this subject, despite being an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirement. During two yearly sessions, emergency medicine residents received training on end-of-life discussions. Each session included a seminar on how to approach the delivery of difficult news to patients and families and how to engage them in conversation. Our novel curriculum increased self-reported confidence in discussing EOL issues, especially among first- and second-year emergency medicine resident physicians. Training and experience with EOL conversations not only helps residents, but ultimately benefits patients and their families.

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?

"The lack of preparation compounds provider grief": Results from a needs assessment on grief training delivered to pediatric residentsClinical Pediatrics; by Erin Hickey, Erica L Jamro; 12/25Educational interventions to prepare pediatric residents to care for grieving people are rare.  Pediatric residents completed a survey conducted from March to April 2022 that assessed their experience, attitudes, skills, and knowledge of organizational support related to caring for grieving patients and families.  Despite improvements in competence with delivering difficult news with years in residency ... , only 35.7% felt competent by PGY3/4 [post-graduate year 3]. Only 19.5% of residents overall believe adequate grief support exists within their training program. Opportunities for residents to receive formal grief training are inadequate.

An Anderson Township nursing home patient died of natural causes — until the coroner called it homicide ABC WCPO-9, Cincinnati / Anderson Township, OH; by Dan Monk; 1/21/26 An Anderson Township nursing home is under scrutiny after a patient’s death was changed from natural causes to homicide by the Hamilton County Coroner. Robert Meyer was a patient at Forest Hills Healthcare Center, ... He died on Sept. 6, 2025, soon after being transferred to a hospice facility in Blue Ash. No autopsy was conducted because the original death certificate said Meyer died of natural causes. However, as his funeral approached, his daughter raised concerns about his care at Forest Hills. Tammy Maham sent the coroner pictures of neck bruises that Meyer incurred in the days before his death. That led to Meyer’s disinterment, a Sept. 22 autopsy and a revised death certificate that lists “physical elder abuse” as the immediate cause of death by homicide.

1 in 3 NPs and PAs switch specialties at least once in career AMA; by Kevin B. O'Reilly; 1/12/26 More than one-third of both nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) said in surveys conducted on behalf of the AMA that they have switched the specialty in which they provide care at some point during their career. While most nurse practitioners and physician assistants are trained to practice primary care, overwhelming majorities said additional formal training to gain the knowledge, acumen and skills needed to help provide care in the new specialty area was rarely pursued.

Development of a mortality prediction model for incarcerated adults to identify palliative care needsJournal of General Internal Medicine; by W. James Deardorff, Alexandra K. Lee, Kaiwei Lu, Bocheng Jing, W. John Boscardin, Michele DiTomas, John Dunlap, Brie A. Williams, Sei J. Lee, Alexander K. Smith; 12/25The United States prison population has seen a rapid rise in the number of older adults, with roughly 14% of male prisoners and 9% of female prisoners aged 55 years or older in 2020.  Incarcerated adults experience accelerated aging, leading to reduced life expectancy and higher rates of chronic medical conditions, functional impairments, and mental health conditions compared with non-incarcerated persons. For individuals with advanced age, multimorbidity, and/or serious illness, advance care planning discussions, palliative care, and hospice services are crucial for improving quality of life and ensuring medical care that is consistent with an individual’s values and goals. As the number of incarcerated adults with limited life expectancy increases, there is a clear need for a systematic way to identify individuals who may most benefit from these services. Our 2-year mortality prediction model for adults within the California prison system performed well on measures of discrimination, calibration, and classification. The model can be used to flag individuals at higher risk for mortality for consideration of advance care planning interventions, palliative care and hospice referrals, and compassionate release.

New clinical ministry degree for those called to become chaplains AdventHealth, Orlando, FL; by Jennifer Audette; 1/12/26 Chaplains are an integral part of the healing process. They are with patients and families at their most vulnerable moments, and health care organizations are in profound need of board-certified chaplains. To meet this need, AdventHealth University will begin offering a Master of Arts in Clinical Ministry degree in Fall 2026. ... The graduate degree program, which is 100 percent online, is grounded in theology, ethics, and psychology. Courses include Grief & Loss, Narrative Counseling, and World Religions. The Clinical Ministry degree ... can serve as an academic bridge for those who plan to go on to pursue certification through organizations such as the Board of Certified Chaplains Inc.

Senior nursing students encounter end-of-life experiences Bioengineer.org; 1/11/26 In a groundbreaking study that sheds light on the emotional and psychological landscape of nursing education, researchers have delved into the first encounters of senior nursing students with death and dying. This critical period in their education not only highlights their academic preparation but also illuminates the personal and ethical dimensions of caring for patients at the end of life. Such experiences are pivotal as they mold the future practices and attitudes of these budding healthcare professionals.