Literature Review

Asking older adults with impaired cognition and care partners about serious illness experiences can elicit goals of care during advance care planning Americn Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Glory H. Thai, BS, Valecia Hanna, MS, Peiyuan Zhang, MSW, Chase Mulholland Green, MPH, John Cagle, PhD, MSW, Jennifer L. Wolff, PhD, and Martha Abshire Saylor, PhD, RN; 8/13/25 Older adults with cognitive impairment and their care partners were able to respond to serious illness experience questions, with responses eliciting a spectrum of goals of care. Integrating such questions into advanced care planning (ACP) for older adults with cognitive impairment may clarify goals of care and improve decision-making for patients and families. 

Patient deaths, inner scars, and physicians’ need to grieveMedscape; by Andrea Goto; 8/6/25In 2023, Molly Taylor, MD, MS, a pediatric oncologist and attending physician at Seattle Children’s, sat in her parked car with tears streaming down her face. She was preparing to attend the memorial service for an 8-year-old patient she had lost a week prior. The patient’s mother had asked Taylor if she could share a few words about the little girl... Taylor is not alone in experiencing grief tinged with guilt after losing a patient. Although the prevalence of provider grief hasn’t been widely examined, a JPSM review published in 2023 indicated that it’s a significant issue in many areas of medicine.

She wanted her dad to give her away at her wedding. A Niagara hospice made it happen NiagaraThisWeek.com - Grimsby Lincoln News; by Mark Newman; 8/10/25 Ron Oliver got to see his daughter get married. When the 67-year-old Grimsby resident moved into McNally House Hospice for end-of-life care on Wednesday, his daughter Alissa mentioned to hospice staff she wanted her father to see her get married and to give her away as part of the matrimonial ceremony before he dies. McNally House staff went to work, and 48 hours later Alissa was walking along an outdoor patio at the hospice with her father behind her in a wheelchair holding her hand.

Implementation of the Pressure Injury Prevention Care Bundle at a home based hospice program: A quality improvement project The Texas Medical Center (TMC) Library Health Sciences Resource Center; by Adaeze U. Amechi-fannin; 8/11/25 Pressure injuries remain a common and serious problem in hospice care, especially among patients who are immobile or confined to bed. Although effective prevention methods are known, inconsistent use of these methods, limited caregiver training, and poor documentation have continued to prevent success in many hospice settings. These wounds cause pain, increase infection risk, and reduce quality of life, making prevention especially important in end-of-life care. ... This project demonstrates that combining structured training, evidence-based care steps, and attention to individual patient needs can successfully reduce pressure injuries in home hospice environments.

Field notes from the end of life: My thoughts on living while dying Texarkana Gazette, Texarkana, TX; 7/26/25 As friends are quick to tell me, we are all living with dying. True enough. Especially because I'm 76, or, as my late husband, Alec, would say, "too old to die young." But it's still disturbing to get official notice of your imminent demise. ... In a series of stories, I'll be sharing my field notes as I make my way from here to there, in the hope that others might find it useful. ... When I start feeling grim about my situation, I'm finding it useful to take a "Would it help?" moment to consider whether my response can improve the situation or help me cope. 

Benefis’ Life After Support Group helps families heal after traumatic loss Times-Leader, Great Fall, MT; by Joee Taylor; 8/8/25 The grief that follows the sudden, unexpected loss of a loved one is overwhelming and isolating. For those navigating that painful reality, Benefis Peace Hospice of Montana offers a place to turn with the "Life After" support group. "We offer a private, confidential, safe place to gather people who have experienced this particular type of loss because these losses tend to be much more difficult because the losses were sudden and they were unexpected." said Jeanne Dussault, a volunteer who facilitates the group. The Life After Support Group is designed specifically for individuals who have experienced a death by suicide or another traumatic loss.Editor's Note: Bravo to Benefis Peace Hospice for providing this crucial service. Though bereavement support for traumatic, non-hospice deaths had been a standard service for many hospice bereavement services, this has be being cut. For extensive traumatic grief counseling education and resources, go to www.ADEC.org and enter "trauma" in its search engine.

Caring for every breath: Carolina Caring Advanced Lung Care Program launched August 1st Carolina Caring, Newton, NC; Press Release; 8/8/25 A specialized lung care program providing care for complex respiratory conditions will bring needed comfort and support to many individuals. Launched on August 1st, 2025, Carolina Caring’s Advanced Lung Care Program helps patients receive the personalized care they need for their advanced respiratory illness at end of life, while remaining comfortably at home—leading to a reduction of hospitalizations and improved quality of life for patients and their families. 

Demystifying dying in end-of-life-care: A phenomenological perspective Death Studies; by Elisabet Sernbo, Magnus Weber, Charlotta Öhrling, Stina Nyblom; 8/26/25 This article focuses on experiences of the process of dying. The empirical material consists of interviews with patients in palliative care and their significant others. The analysis draws attention to the lived experiences of the participants - embedded in time, identities, social relations, and everyday lives - and to how the possibility of sense-making is conditioned by the lifeworld. ... [This] needs to be understood as reorienting work: supporting people when their lines become disrupted or need to be altered. This requires a display of radical empathy ...

After losing his wife, 92-year-old man turns grief into comfort for other Spectrum News 1 - Greece, NY; by Seth Voorhees; 8/4/25 The loss of a spouse can be devastating. A Rochester area man is turning his personal grief into comfort for others. The gesture has special meaning for families of people in hospice care. Howard Jones has always dabbled in art. At 92, the Kodak retiree has made painting his full-time job. ... [His wife through 68 years,] Estella spent her final weeks at Hildebrandt Hospice Care Center, where staff noticed Howard Jones would pass the time by painting rocks. Someone told him the story of the cardinal, and how some believe their appearance is a sign that a departed loved one is near.  ... [Now, he paints] “every day, eight hours a day,” said Jones. ... “It’s all a matter of getting the bird to look right,” he said. ... “My hope is always that when someone takes one of the stones out of the basket, they can feel the emotion that went into painting it,” said Jones. Since he began keeping track in February, Howard Jones says he’s painted over 500 cardinals. “And that's kept me going,” he said.Editor's Note: This demonstrates beautifully the "instrumental style of grieving" (identified by Ken Doka and Terry Martin in Grieving Beyond Gender) where men (and women) tend to grieve through actively doing something, in contrast to verbal and emotional expression. We described this more in our post, To Be or To Do? Women and Men's different styles of grieving.

Study reveals how medication side effects can lead to dangerous medication cycles in adults 65+ McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Donna Shryer; 7/31/25 When doctors treat drug side effects as new illnesses, older adults may be prescribed even more medications — a cycle known as a “prescribing cascade.” A new study says this prescribing cycle can increase the risk of harm. Guest Editor's Note, Drew Mihaylo, PharmD: Practicing clinical vigilance regarding medication utilization is essential at any stage of illness. Prescribing cascades are common, under-recognized and often harmful. Approaching the emotional topic of medication change must be done with compassion and sensitivity tied to patient specific goals of care. Creativity to this end has been a focus of mine for sometime now as a clinical pharmacist serving serious illness patients nationally.

Burnout eases for doctors at every career stage as support rises American Medical Association (AMA); by Sara Berg; 7/22/25 Physician burnout is showing promising signs of decline, according to exclusive survey data from the AMA. The analysis reveals that burnout rates have fallen among physicians at every career stage after residency or fellowship training. At the same time, measures of job satisfaction and feeling valued in the workplace are on the rise—an encouraging shift that suggests meaningful progress in efforts to support physician well-being.  ... Nearly 18,000 responses from physicians across 43 states were received from more than 100 health systems and organizations that participated in the AMA Organizational Biopsy® last year. The AMA national physician comparison report—which is exclusive data to the AMA that is not published anywhere else—reflects 2024 trends on six key performance indicators—job satisfaction, job stress, burnout, intent to leave an organization, feeling valued by an organization and total hours spent per week on work-related activities ... 

The ‘accidental’ hospice chaplain The Dallas Weekly (DW), Dallas, TX; by Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware; 7/30/25 “I’m an accidental chaplain,” says Rev. Dr. Missiouri McPhee, an ordained African Methodist Episcopal minister who works with Orlando Health, a nonprofit healthcare company based in Florida. A Florida A&M University graduate, McPhee was working on her theology doctorate in Atlanta when a classmate, a chaplain at a hospital in Orlando, ... [kept saying to me,] "Missiouri, you need to come interview with my hospital." ... Fast forward a few years, and McPhee found herself taking on work as a hospice chaplain, arguably the most challenging and rewarding specialty in ministry. She currently works in the Central Florida area for VITAS Healthcare, a major provider of hospice and palliative care. ...

Association releases first-ever guideline on use of blood tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Donna Shryer; 7/29/25 The Alzheimer’s Association has issued its first clinical practice guideline on the use of blood tests to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in people with cognitive impairment. Released at the 2025 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference this week, the guideline establishes performance thresholds that blood-based biomarker tests must meet before they can be used in specialized memory care settings. ... “This is a pivotal moment in Alzheimer’s care,” said Maria C. Carrillo, PhD, the Association’s chief science officer and a guideline co-author. “For the first time, we have a rigorously evidence-based guideline that empowers clinicians to use blood biomarker tests confidently and consistently.”