Literature Review

Holiday considerations with a loved one on hospice Emmanuel Hospice, Grand Rapids, MI; 12/8/25 What kind of gift do you give someone receiving hospice care? How do you celebrate knowing it might be your last holiday with a loved one? Suffice to say, the holiday season brings difficult challenges for families going through an end-of-life journey. While gatherings and gifts might look different, Joan Blessings with Emmanuel Hospice says it can still be a cherished time with the right support from friends, family and hospice care team members. ...  She’s found that engaging different senses is one way to include patients in holiday festivities.

'Music makes everything better': Austin doctor spins vinyl to give patients a sense of home KUT 90.5, Austin, TX; by Olivia Aldridge; 12/16/25 Lying in her bed at Dell Seton Medical Center, 64-year-old Pamela Mansfield sways her feet to the rhythm of George Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care.” Mansfield is still recovering much of her mobility after a recent neck surgery, but she finds a way to move to the music floating from a record player that was just wheeled into her room. “Seems to be the worst part is the stiffness in my ankles and the no feeling in the hands,” she says. “But music makes everything better.” Mansfield was being visited by the ATX-VINyL program, a project dreamed up by Dr. Tyler Jorgensen to bring music to the bedside of patients dealing with difficult diagnoses and treatments. He collaborates with a team of volunteers who wheel the player on a cart to patients’ rooms, along with a selection of records in their favorite genres.

Perceptions of family caregiving change across demographic lines Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 12/12/25 Family caregiver burden may be falling heavier on the shoulders of certain demographic groups compared to others, a new survey has found. Perceptions of family caregiver roles and responsibilities vary vastly across different age groups, geographic regions and genders, a new survey from BURD Home Health has found. Survey responses were analyzed by demographics such as gender, income, age and geographic location. Among the main goals was to identify patterns and disparities in how caregiving duties are perceived and distributed, according to Justin Colline, director of marketing at BURD Home Health.Editor's Note: Key findings from the source survey include ..

My patient was gone. I had to help his family see it: The art of medicine means sitting with families’ grief and hope Stat10 - First Opinion; by Raya Elfadel Kheirbek; 12/15/25 Bullets tore through Michael Thompson’s car at a stop sign, ending the life of a 35-year-old father in an instant. Just minutes earlier, he had dropped his 8-year-old daughter, Emma, at dance class, her pink tutu bouncing as she waved goodbye. Now, in the ICU, his young body lay tethered to machines — ... a ventilator’s hiss forcing his chest to rise. ... His family’s grief filled the room, raw and heavy, as I prepared to document our meeting. On the screen, a pop-up appeared: “Patient is deceased; do you want to continue?” Its cold bluntness paled against their pain. Michael looked alive. His chest rose and fell with the ventilator. ... Medicine isn’t just tests or machines. It is presence — sitting with families in their grief, faith, and love. Our tools should support that presence, not interrupt it with cold prompts. ... Most U.S. hospitals lack clear guidelines for these situations, leaving families and clinicians alike in limbo. They also worried about organ donation — a decision fewer than 1% of families consent to after brain death, often because the body still looks alive.Editor's Note: We thank the palliative care physicians, nurses, social workers, and chaplains who provide sensitive presence with families in the unbearable spaces between hope and loss, especially when life support decisions arise. In this season, may we pause to honor those who carry this sacred work—and remember the families who have had to accept harsh truths while machines still “breathe.”

The balancing act: How caregivers navigate the stress of work, family, and caring for a loved one Delaware LIVE; by Staff Writer; 12/12/25With two-thirds of U.S. caregivers struggling to manage both employment and home duties, experts say planning, boundaries, and support can prevent burnout. ... Insights from national research and guidance from Delaware Hospice, Oasis Senior Care (a leading consultant for families), and Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore underscore a central message: you don’t have to do this alone, and thriving — not just surviving — is possible. ...

The ethical challenge of negative compassion: How excessive empathy in end-of-life care affects decision-making and patient autonomy Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing; by Victoria Pérez-Rugosa, Gina Lladó-Jordan, Pablo de Lorena-Quintal, Esther Domínguez-Valdés, Antonia Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Carmen Sarabia-Cobo; 12/11/25 Online ahead of print ... 3 key themes emerged: decision paralysis and emotional overload, conflicts between personal beliefs and professional responsibilities, and institutional barriers to ethical practice. Findings reveal that excessive emotional involvement can hinder the implementation of patients' documented wishes, potentially compromising patient autonomy and increasing caregiver distress. The study highlights the need for institutional policies that support emotional resilience, structured debriefing, and ethics training. ... These insights are highly relevant for palliative nursing practice, offering guidance for supporting staff and upholding patient-centered care in end-of-life settings.

Prison hospice: From the inmate hospice volunteers’ perspective – a “snapshot” by Barry R. Ashpole ehospice; by Barry R. Ashpole; 12/6/25 ... [In the words of a prison inmate]: "... When they brought in a hospice, it gave us an avenue to take care of each other. In order to get in here, they’re pretty sick. They’re dyin’. ... All you’re doin’ is makin’ their passing easier. We hold their hands. We pray. And we bathe ‘em. We feed ‘em, ... We take care of all the things that they need. And when that patient has a family, his family is allowed to come back in here to the hospice. When I started hospice, I thought it would be about what I can give to the patient, what I could do for that patient to make ‘em feel better. But when you do what you do, the feeling that you get back from them, you can’t even describe it."

Palliative care improves outcomes in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), with Crawford Strunk, MD Consultant Live; by Crawford Strunk, MD; 12/8/25 Incorporating a palliative care team into a comprehensive sickle cell disease (SCD) care center substantially reduced inpatient length of stay and improved outpatient pain management, according to a recent study. ...  Additionally, the study authors noted plans to continue examining the efficacy of palliative care regarding cost savings and broader applicability outside of SCD patients.

Accompanying Dad on his final journey: View from the treehouse Catholic Review; by Barb Arland-Fye; 12/1/25 Dad seemed preoccupied when we arrived at my parents’ home on a Saturday night in late September. Newly diagnosed with a fast-moving cancer, he had chosen to forgo chemotherapy for in-home hospice care, but “what-if” questions filled his mind. ... [Scroll ahead to hospice care at home.] We were determined to help Mom (and my siblings) accompany Dad on his final journey to heaven’s gate and we did, in his favorite space, a four-season room the grandkids affectionately named “The Treehouse” for its view of the woods. This is the room where Dad engaged in his favorite pastimes — reading and bonding with his kids and grandkids while urging on his beloved Minnesota Vikings, Gophers and other teams. ... The death rattle ceased and the quiet seemed deafening. Dad died at 6:40 a.m. Oct. 3, with my mom, Tim, and Steve and I at his side. We are grateful his suffering had ended but heartbroken to lose him. Sixty-seven years ago, Dad welcomed me into the world after an hours-long wait for Mom to give birth to their first child. I had the privilege of accompanying him on his journey out.

A geriatrician explains: Supporting loved ones through end-of-life care BlackDoctor; by Jasmine Smith with video by Dr. Cheryl E. Woodson; 11/30/25 In this video, Dr. Cheryl E. Woodson shares why clear, thoughtful planning is not about how someone wants to die—it’s about understanding the conditions under which living is still meaningful to them. End-of-life decisions should not fall on distraught family members in crisis; they should be guided by the person’s own values, documented long before these decisions ever need to be made.

How clinicians prenatally discuss management options and outcomes for congenital heart disease Journal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Samantha Syme, Kelsey Schweiberger, Judy C Chang, Ann Kavanaugh-McHugh, Nadine A Kasparian, Robert M Arnold, Kelly W Harris; 11/27/25 Online ahead of printA prenatal diagnosis of complex congenital heart disease (cCHD) introduces significant emotional, social, and financial stress for families. ... Fetal cardiology consultations offer an important opportunity to support families navigating uncertainty following a prenatal diagnosis of CHD. Clinicians approached these conversations with empathy and a focus on long-term outcomes, though discussions about management options varied. There is an opportunity for increased presentation and integration of palliative care consultants as a longitudinal, family-centered resource, regardless of mortality risk, which may enhance supports available to families during this highly emotional period.

'It has made my life a lot easier': New Ohio program pays people to care for their loved ones at homeWTOL-11, Columbus, OH; by Kevin Landers; 11/24/25 Mark Straub, of Delaware County, started caring for his 93-year-old mother about two years ago. As much as he loves to have his mother at home instead of a nursing home, caring for a loved one 24/7 brings with it stress, both emotional and financial. ... The average cost of in-home care in Ohio is $60,238, according to CareScout. The average cost of nursing home care is $108,500 a year, or about $9,000 per month. Thanks to a new program in Ohio, those who care for a loved one at home are about to get financially easier. It’s called Structured Family Caregiving, or SFC. Currently, at least 11 states have formal Medicaid SFC programs that pay family members. “I didn’t believe it at first, until I got that first paycheck and I really wanted to cry, “ said Tsavaris.

Can tech restore the human side of care? Becker's Health IT; by Ella Jeffries; 11/14/25 Technology has been both a promise and a problem in healthcare. When EHRs arrived in hospitals, they were heralded as a revolution — bringing order to messy paper charts and standardizing how care was documented. But soon after, clinicians found themselves staring more at screens than at the patients sitting in front of them. Now, nurse leaders say the very systems that once distanced them from patients could hold the key to rebuilding that connection.