Literature Review

As a doctor and a daughter, finding gratitude amid loss on Father’s Day The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD; by Jean Marbella; 6/21/26 As a physician who specializes in palliative care, Dr. Delia Chiaramonte helps patients, families and medical professionals deal with the stresses and demands that come with serious and often terminal illnesses. Then, her own father died. "I thought I knew what this experience would be like," she said. "It is much more nuanced." On this, her second Father's Day without her own father, Chiaramonte taps into both her lived and professional experiences to offer advice on a holiday for those feeling more bereft than celebratory.

The illusion of choice at the end of life Huffpost Personal; by Jennifer Obel, MD; 6/21/26 After the hospice nurse increased my mother’s morphine drip to ease the feeling of drowning, my mom never spoke to me again. By then, her metastatic lung cancer had taken nearly everything: her strength, her vigor, her independence. What remained was breathlessness that came in waves, each one more frightening than the last. The morphine was meant to quiet her panic and soften the feeling of suffocation. It did. It also closed the door on any final conversation. I was both daughter and oncologist, and the weight of those roles was devastating. I understood what was happening physiologically from decades of treating patients. That knowledge did nothing to make it easier to sit at her bedside, waiting for her to wake, unsure if she could hear me or say goodbye. ...

Goals of care discussions in medical training: Integrating palliative care for holistic, patient-centered careHealthcare; by Celine Rochon, Farzana Hoque; 5/26Goals of care discussions are essential communication skills in medical training that bridge patient values with clinical decision-making. Integrating palliative care principles into these conversations enables holistic, patient-centered care, yet medical trainees often lack structured preparation for these critical interactions. Integrating palliative care principles into medical training for goals of care discussions is essential for developing patient-centered clinicians. Combining structured communication frameworks, interprofessional education, targeted skills training, and technological support creates a comprehensive educational approach that prepares trainees to elicit patient goals, create individualized care plans, and deliver holistic care that honors patient values.

The collusion in discussing prognosis with cancer patients MedPage Today's KevinMD.com; by Kyle Edmonds, MD; 6/14/26 Two people sit in an exam room. One has an illness that will end their life. The other knows. Neither wants to say it out loud, so neither does. The conversation drifts toward next steps (another scan, another line of therapy, another visit on the calendar), and both leave the room feeling that it went well. This is not a thought experiment. In 2012, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study by Jane Weeks and colleagues that should have changed practice overnight. ... That was 2012. Same finding turned up again recently: 986 advanced cancer patients, 74 percent still misperceiving their treatment’s intent. The pattern is alive and well.

Penn Medicine’s approach to clinical care AI tools focuses on problems they want to solve Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH); by Christopher Cheney; 6/12/26 Penn Medicine has embraced a range of AI tools in clinical care such as a new collaboration with K Health that includes AI tools to engage patients and tee up visits with clinicians. ... With so many AI tool options becoming available in clinical care, it is important for senior leaders to have a focused approach for AI tool adoption, according to Srinath Adusumalli, MD, vice president and chief health information officer at Penn Medicine. “At the highest level, when we adopt AI tools in clinical care, we focus on the problems we are trying to solve,” Adusumalli says. 

The missing middle in healthcare—and why it matters | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Bridget Sumser and Sonya Dolan; 6/20/26 What happens between a life-changing diagnosis and hospice care?  In Part One of this thought-provoking conversation, Chris Comeaux welcomes Mettle Health co-founder Sonya Dolan and Director of Counseling & Programs Bridget Sumser to explore what they call healthcare’s “missing middle.” ... Together, they unpack how Mettle Health was created to provide a different kind of support: one centered on accompaniment rather than treatment, resilience rather than answers, and human connection rather than healthcare transactions.

Leading with purpose creates a vision for the future of oncology nursing Oncology Nursing Society - ONS; by Ryne Wilson, DNP, RN, OCN; 6/1/26 Momentum is not accidental; it is built through courageous decisions and shared purpose. As ONS moves forward to advancing oncology nursing excellence across clinical practice, policy, and scientific discovery, we are guided by our 2026–2028 Strategic Plan.

By the Bay Health recognized as 2026 Golden Bell Honoree for Innovative Healthcare Workforce Development Program ByTheBayHealth.org News, Larkspur, CA; by Sarah Robertson; 5/27/26 By the Bay Health has been named a 2026 Golden Bell Honoree by the Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) and the Marin County School Boards Association (MCSBA) in recognition of its Pathways to Care Careers initiative ... The award recognizes By the Bay Health’s longstanding partnership with Marin County schools and its commitment to expanding access to healthcare career education for high school and college students. A key component of the initiative is the Introduction to the World of Healthcare course at San Marin High School. Funded by private donations to By the Bay Health, the course is taught by a By the Bay Health clinician and clinical guest lecturers through a partnership with the Marin County Office of Education.Editor's Note: Congratulations on this innovative partnership and investment in future healthcare professionals. May this intergenerational model inspire other healthcare organizations to help cultivate the next generation of compassionate care.

Why physicians need to learn cannabis medicine now MedPageToday's KevinMD.com; by Janice Makela, MD; 5/31/26 I am a geriatrics and hospice and palliative medicine physician with over 20 years of experience. Over the years, I have seen how cannabis has helped my patients, and I am very comfortable with my patients using cannabis. But like many physicians, I was not formally trained in cannabis medicine. ... Since then, I’ve learned a lot about cannabis. And I also learned that ... most doctors have very little knowledge about cannabis or the endocannabinoid system. ... As new policies roll out, health care providers need to take time to educate themselves about cannabis. Otherwise, how can we help our patients?

Compassion fatigue and spiritual care competence amongst palliative care nurses: a moderated mediation model of care quality and job satisfaction Journal of Clinical Nursing / Early View; by Enise Sürücü, Funda Veren, Hülya Kulakçı Altıntaş, Büşra Baş, and Zeynep Acar Demir; 5/30/26 Impact: