Literature Review

Wound care at Sheridan VA gives 95-year-old Veteran a second chance: Veteran removed from hospice care at Sheridan VA after wounds heal VA News; by Jesus Flores; 9/12/25 When 95-year-old Air Force Veteran Roy Clifton arrived at Sheridan VA Medical Center (SVAMC) in March 2025, he thought he didn’t have much time left. “I had a bone infection in both feet and could barely walk,” he said. “Then I had a fall that caused a bleed in my brain. That’s when I decided to call it quits and go to hospice.” ... [Scroll ahead to this hospice's expert wound care.] Although both feet had exposed bones, and the injuries looked and smelled bad, Clifton’s body was healing. ... Clifton’s condition improved so much, he was taken off hospice care. “It made me feel great to survive hospice,” he said, smiling. “They’re all great. The staff took good care of me.”

New Salem-based hospice opens with focus on nursing staff wellness Salem Reporter, Salem, OR; by Hailey Cook; 9/11/25 After 12 years working as a hospice nurse, Christie Rivelli reached her breaking point. The pressure had built since the pandemic, when her workload went from 15 patients at a time to 28. ... By opening a new, locally-owned hospice company, they’re bucking a trend. ... Solterra currently has a staff of 19, with a range of one to three decades of experience in hospice care. As a nurse herself, Rivelli said she’s prioritized her staff’s workload and benefits. Everyone starts by getting training about post-traumatic stress disorder, and she said new hires have had trouble adjusting to a slower pace of work. ... Rivelli said. “Downtime in your workday should be built in … but boy, that’s not how it’s been in hospice.” She said some companies will assign 40 patients to one nurse, which forces the nurses to do pop-in check-ups rather than getting to know their patients. It can also mean the patient will see a rotation of unfamiliar faces rather than one nurse.

Developing competencies to advance health care access and quality for Latino, Hispanic, and Spanish origin populations-A consensus statementJAMA Network Open; by Débora H. Silva, John A. Davis Rodríguez, Hector Rasgado-Flores, Pilar Ortega, Deion Ellis, Fernando Sánchez Mendoza, Victor Cueto, Fabiola Quintero-Rivera, Norma Iris Poll-Hunter, Minerva Romero Arenas, Kenneth Lee Dominguez, Juan Emilio Carrillo, José E. Rodríguez, John Paul Sánchez; 8/25Question: What competencies and milestones are essential for advancing health equity for Latina, Latino, Latinx, Latine, Hispanic, and Spanish Origin (LHS+) populations? Since the 1970s, the LHS+ population has increased 6-fold and grown to be the largest ethnic or racial group in the US and accounts for approximately 20% of the US population. The LHS+ health equity competencies and milestones resulting from this study add to prior work by creating a blueprint for standardization and broader application of such educational experiences on a national level. As a tool to enhance CBME [competency-based medical education ] efforts aligned with care for LHS+ populations, the competencies may aid educators and institutions through an LHS+–informed lens in conducting gap analyses for the development of local curricula, developing teaching and assessment materials, supporting the professional development of learners and faculty, and facilitating educational scholarship. 

Clinicians who practice primarily in nursing homes and the quality of care for residents with Alzheimer Disease and related dementiasJAMA Health Forum; by Hyunkyung Yun, Mark Aaron Unruh, Yuting Qian, Yongkang Zhang, Hye-Young Jung; 8/25In this cohort study, receipt of care from a SNFist [skilled nursing facility specialist] vs a non-SNFist was associated with a 7% decrease in the odds of a hospitalization and a 7% decrease in the odds of an emergency department visit for an ambulatory care–sensitive condition among residents with dementia. Findings of this cohort study suggest that the use of SNFists by NHs [nursing homes] may enhance the quality of care for residents with ADRD [Alzheimer disease and related dementias].

Family says bear attack victim to be transferred to hospice care KNWA/KFTA FOX-24, Little Rock, AR; by Justin Trobaugh; 9/9/25 The family of a Franklin County man says Sept. 8 that his condition has worsened and that he has been moved to hospice care. Vernon Patton, 72, is being held at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences after being attacked by a bear in the Mulberry Mountain area of Franklin County on Sept. 3. Patton was working on a gravel road with his tractor near Mulberry Mountain Lodge Park when the black bear attacked, according to Keith Stephens with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC). His son arrived to check on him and saw the bear actively attacking. Editor's Note: Executive leaders, traumatic events like this that lead to a hospice admission call for extra support for your clinical, direct care professionals and volunteers. They can experience secondary trauma as they tend horrific wounds, both physical (for the patient) and emotional (for family and friends). Also, what policies do you have in place to balance important community news and family privacy (e.g. staff or volunteers posting anything on social media).

The tangled web of nurse education Becker's Clinical Leadership; by Mariah Taylor; 8/29/25 In the last few years, hospital leaders have been faced with a tangled web of needs: easing nurse shortages, retaining nurses, and helping all pursue their career dreams. Their solutions all come down to nurse education. Health systems have been taking a more active role in providing, supporting and building out nurse education programs in universities and as part of employee benefits. However, they still face a number of complex issues.  Editor's Note: What types of career ladder systems and support to you have in place, especially for your aides to move into nursing and to grow nurses into leadership roles? What universities or online education systems can you utilize? What personalized educational assessments and plans to you include in your employees' regular Performance Reviews? For nonprofits, what donor/grant-driven programs do you have, or might you start to support career ladders for your clinical employees?

The next phase in virtual nursing Becker's Health IT; by Ella Jeffries; 9/9/25 The face of a nurse now appears on a television screen in hundreds of rooms at Jackson, Mich.-based Henry Ford Jackson Hospital. From a command center down the hall, the nurse conducts safety checks, reviews charts and helps patients prepare for discharge — all without ever crossing the threshold. This new model, known as virtual nursing, is not a futuristic experiment so much as a response to an immediate crisis. Michigan is already short as many as 20,000 registered nurses, according to Eric Wallis, DNP, RN, chief nursing officer of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, and the average nurse in the state is older than 50.

Where AI can make the biggest impact for nurses Becker's Health IT; by Ella Jeffries; 9/2/25 Artificial intelligence in nursing is often framed as a way to cut paperwork. But nurse informatics leaders told Becker’s its potential goes beyond that, reshaping nurses’ role, strengthening patient safety and providing real-time insights that improve care. Many did say the most immediate opportunity lies in easing the documentation burden. Jason Atkins, RN, chief clinical informatics officer at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, pointed to ambient listening, chart summarization and care plan automation as tools that can free nurses from clicks in the EHR. These tools allow nurses to spend more time “caring out loud” with patients instead of navigating screens, he said. 

When I go, I'm going green KFF Health News; by Paula Span; 9/8/25 More Americans are choosing burials in which everything is biodegradable. ... “Do you see a lot of interest in green burials?” I asked the friendly town cemetery commissioner who was showing me around. “I don’t think we’ve had a traditional burial in two years,” he said. “It’s all green.”

Update on malpractice claimsLinkedIn; by Elizabeth Hogue; 9/3/25New analysis by Claggett, Sykes and Garza Trial Lawyers shows that registered nurses (RNs) and physicians continue to top the list of health professions most likely to be sued for malpractice... While the total number of malpractice suits has decreased by almost 20% in ten years, the severity of claims has risen... Home care nurses, including those providing hospice and palliative care, were the most vulnerable to professional liability claims of all nursing specialties... [The article includes factors that may contribute to increases in claims against home health nurses and strategies that nurses can use to protect themselves from malpractice claims.]

Risky prescribing and the epidemic of deaths from fallsJAMA Health Forum; Thomas A. Farley; 8/25In 2023, more than 41,000 individuals older than 65 years died from falls. More importantly, the mortality rate for falls among older adults in the US has more than tripled during the past 30 years. Drugs that cause drowsiness or impaired balance or coordination have been called fall risk–increasing drugs (FRIDs). The list of FRIDs is long and includes drugs such as β-blockers and anticholinergics, as well as proton pump inhibitors that may increase the risk of an injury during a fall. Four categories (opioids, benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids, and antidepressants) of central nervous system–active FRIDs are particularly concerning because of a combination of surging use and a strong association with falls. 

[Global] Palliative care for special populations ehospice; by Howard Kinyua; 9/1/25

Physician billing for advance care planning among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, 2016-2021The Permanente Journal; by Nan Wang, Changchuan Jiang, Elizabeth Paulk, Tianci Wang, Xin Hu; 8/25In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services started reimbursing practitioners for their time spent providing advance care planning (ACP) with patients. Results: The percentage of practitioners billing ACP visits tripled from 1.76% in 2016 to 4.56% in 2021, with the highest percentage among hospice and palliative medicine practitioners (36.94%) in 2021. ACP service volume was similar by metropolitan status for hospice and palliative medicine, but it was higher in nonmetropolitan regions for cancer-related specialties, non-cancer terminal disease specialties, and primary and geriatrics care. This nationwide analysis showed low adoption of ACP billing by 2021, and it varied widely across specialties. This may reflect practical challenges of ACP related to comfort level with ACP discussion and documentation burden among the professional communities.