Literature Review

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. 

Frailty needs to be a factor in drug development, proposed guidelines suggest McKnights Long-Term Care News, by Kristen Fischer; 3/20/24A new report on strategies for geriatric drug development and assessment determined that drugs need to consider age as well as other factors that older adults face such as cognitive impairment, frailty and polypharmacy. This is according to the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) Geriatric Committee, which published the report. The strategies specifically focused on integrating frailty as a factor in drug development. The report, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society earlier this month, includes 12 principles pertaining to frailty in reference to drug development. The recommendations include measuring frailty at the start of when a person goes on a drug they’ll likely take regularly.

Reducing adverse events with clinical audit Healthcare Connection; by Annette Schandl, George Bezzerides, Erin Meyer; 3/19/24 Patient safety is at the core of healthcare. Yet, clinical audits remain underrepresented on many healthcare organizations’ internal audit plans. ... Planning clinical audits: A checklist ...

Health care utilization and opioid use in patients receiving an integrated palliative care intervention for treatment of head and neck cancer compared to a historical control Elsevier, International Journal of Radiation; by F. Rizwan. C. D'Avella, M. Albert, T. King, B. Egleston, T.J. Galloway, M. Chwistek, C. Fang, A. El-jawahri, J.R. Bauman; online access for 4/1/24 release Patients receiving chemoradiation therapy (CRT) for head and neck cancer (HNC) can develop significant symptomology (odynophagia, malnutrition) resulting in frequent hospitalizations and decreased quality of life (QOL) and continue to have chronic symptoms such as dysphagia and/or pain. The integration of a palliative care (PC) team during CRT has the potential to address the high symptom burden and improve QOL.

Improvements in Interdisciplinary Communication Following the implementation of a standardized Handoff Curriculum: SAFETIPS (Statistics, Assessment, Focused Plan, Pertinent Exam findings, to Dos, If/Thens, Pointers/Pitfalls, and Severity of Illness) Cureus, by Shaefali Shandilya and Justen M. Aprile; 3/18/24 Handoffs between medical providers serve a crucial patient safety function. While most published literature on the topic studies the handover process among physicians, robust literature is available on interdisciplinary medical communication. Little is known about the downstream effects of effective physician handover on subsequent physician and nursing interactions. ...Results: Statistical analysis revealed significant post-intervention mean score increases of one full point in four categories, namely organization and efficiency, communication, content, and clinical judgment.

How a Florida woman’s NYC selfie led to her brain tumor diagnosis New York Post, by Chris Harris; 3/16/24 It was a life-changing selfie. ... “I looked at the picture, and my eyelid was drooping,” Troutwine recalled. “I thought it was odd, so when I returned home, I mentioned it to my neurologist.” The doctor ordered an MRI, and on her way home from the scan, she got a call: They had found a benign mass inside her brain that was growing at an aggressive rate. 

Tensions between grieving hearts and Western mind: Brave spaces for grief literacy and mystical experiences

Beautiful people: Busy 14-year-old still finds time to volunteer for local hospice [creating legacy books]

Sylvester researchers, collaborators call for greater investment in bereavement care NewsWise, by Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center; 3/15/24The public health toll from bereavement is well-documented in the medical literature, with bereaved persons at greater risk for many adverse outcomes, including mental health challenges, decreased quality of life, health care neglect, cancer, heart disease, suicide, and death.  ... Wendy G. Lichtenthal, PhD, FT, FAPOS, who is Founding Director of the new [Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer] Center and associate professor of public health sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, noted, “We need a paradigm shift in how healthcare professionals, institutions, and systems view bereavement care. Sylvester is leading the way by investing in the establishment of this Center, which is the first to focus on bringing the transitional bereavement care model to life.”

Music Therapy to facilitate Relationship Completion at the end of life: A mixed-methods studyJournal of Music Therapy; by Fu-Nien Hsie, Helen Shoemark, Wendy L Magee; 3/14/24 The concept of relationship completion is embodied as the core belief for end-of-life care in Taiwan, known as the Four Expressions in Life. ... Four themes around opportunities emerged from the interviews: the opportunity for exploration, for connection, for expression, and for healing. The integrated findings suggest that music therapy facilitated relationship completion and improved quality of life for both patients and their families. Furthermore, this study supports that the transformative level of music therapy practice within a single session for end-of-life care is attainable.

A death doula keeps legacies alive in rural OregonJefferson Public Radio, by Justin HIgginbottom; 3/13/24 print and audioRudd is an end-of-life doula, sometimes called a death doula, specializing in rural care. In that role she provides non-medical support to those in their last stage of life. ... She helps with practical things like funeral arrangements, helping someone donate their body, or planning for what happens to their property after death. She’s been helping one 83-year-old client with that recently. 

Responding to Soul Injury: Tools for hope and healing Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing; by Deborah Grassman, Abi Katz, Luann Conforti-Brown, Josephine F Wilson, Angie Snyder; 3/13/24Soul Injury is defined as a wound that separates a person from their real self, caused by unmourned loss and hurt, unforgiven guilt and shame, and fear of helplessness or loss of control. Tools and interventions have been developed to guide people impacted by Soul Injury. This study assessed the effectiveness of 12 tools and interventions, ... The Anchor Your Heart tool was the most frequently used tool and had the most enduring utilization across time and settings.Editor's Note: Click here for The Anchor Your Heart Tool identified in this article. Share this research and article with your clinical teams and bereavement counselors.

Heart failure staging and indications for advanced therapies in adults with Congenital Heart DiseaseHeart Failure Clinics / Elsevier, by Alexander C Egbe and Heidi M Connolly; pre-publish 4/24 via onlineSummary: Heart Failure (HF) is common in adults with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), United States, and it is the leading cause of death in this population. Adults with CHD presenting with stage D HF have a poor prognosis, and early recognition of signs of advanced HF, and referral for advanced therapies for HF offer the best survival as compared with other therapies. The indications for advanced therapies for HF outlined in this article should serve as a guide for clinicians to determine the optimal time for referral. Palliative care should be part of the multidisciplinary care model for HF in patients with CHD.