Literature Review

The dying man who gave me flowers changed how I see care MedPageToday's KevinMD.com; by Augusta Uwah, MD; 9/2/25 Today for the first time, I got flowers from a grateful patient. And I reflect on how rough the week has been, all the things that seemed impossible and insurmountable, and everything that has brought me to this point. The patient is going on hospice, he’s going to die, yet he felt that I made a significant impact that he wanted to show his gratitude. And that almost brought me to tears. ... 

Hospice Insights podcast - Hospital to Hospice: Managing referrals and relationships JD Supra; by Bryan Nowicki and Meg Pekarske, Husch Blackwell LLP; 12/17/24 A common referral scenario involves hospital clinicians referring a dying patient to hospice. This circumstance gives rise to questions relating to hospice eligibility, the appropriate level of hospice care, and the expectation of the patient and the hospital. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske and Bryan Nowicki address these questions and provide insights into effectively managing this situation.

End-of-life care needs cultural humility and social justice BMJ; by Jamilla Akhter Hussain, Rekha Vijayshankar, and Mary Hodgson; 12/18/25 Death, dying, and grief are not medical events—they are profoundly social, relational, and shaped by the histories people carry into their final days. ... [A] key question is: how can end-of-life care services become more trustworthy? Too often, institutions respond with so-called cultural competency initiatives. ... What is needed is cultural humility and social justice. Cultural humility involves ongoing self-reflection and acknowledgement of bias at individual, organisational, and system levels. Palliative care must prioritise cultural humility and social justice: trust grows not through outreach alone but through shared creation of knowledge, meaning, and care—and at the end of life ...

[South Korea] Factors influencing burnout among hospice and palliative care ward nursesJournal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing; by Young-Mi Kim, Chieun Song, Jeoungmin Park; 11/25This study aimed to identify the factors influencing burnout among nurses in hospice and palliative care units. This descriptive correlational study investigated the effects of nursing practice environment, resilience, and nurses' character on burnout among hospice and palliative care ward nurses. The participants were 217 nurses working in hospice wards of 20 institutions selected from the 88 inpatient hospice and palliative care institutions designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in South Korea, as of 2021. The results showed that a better nursing practice environment and higher resilience were positively associated with lower burnout. Among hospice and palliative care nurses, being in their 30s and having fewer than 5 years of total clinical experience were associated with higher burnout.

The results are in: Palliative care professionals share how they’re doing in 2025Center to Advance Palliative Care - CAPC; by Rachael Heitner, MPH; 12/16/25 CAPC’s second annual Palliative Pulse survey offers insight on how palliative care professionals across the country are feeling this year and what they’re focused on—see how they responded. ... In this blog, we share four key findings from participants’ self-reports and take a closer look at the data behind each one. ...

How palliative services can smooth over transitions of care Hospice News; by Kevin Ryan; 12/17/25 Transitions of care are crucial moments for patients, often fraught with risks, but palliative care providers can help ensure that the changes go more smoothly. One way of doing this is through transitional care. Transitional care is a dynamic and highly personalized type of care that provides care services to assist patients as they move between different levels of health care. This may include a patient transitioning from a hospital setting to another care facility, or to their home. Transitional care helps bridge service gaps and enhances communication as patients move between health care settings, according to Dr. Diane Meier, founder of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). 

Palliative and end of life care: CEJA reports American Medical Association (AMA); updated 12/15/25 Reports by the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) interpret the AMA Principles of Medical Ethics to provide practical ethics guidance on timely topics. When the AMA House of Delegates adopts the recommendations of a CEJA report they become Opinions in the Code of Medical Ethics. The body of the report, which sets out CEJA’s ethics analysis, is archived and remains available as a resource to help users apply guidance. [Go to the original AMA source to access its CEJA reports:]

Palliative and hospice care in prostate cancer: A scoping review Urologic Oncology; by Andrew Glaza, Aidan Kennedy, Minhaj Jabeer, Siddharth Ramanathan, Agyeiwaa Obeng, Bernadette Zwaans, Jason Hafron; Jan 2026 Advanced prostate cancer presents therapeutic and prognostic challenges at the end of life. Palliative and hospice care improve quality of life, reduce hospitalizations, and enhance patient-centered decision-making. ...  On average, 40.4% of patients received palliative care, 14.74% hospice, and 1.3% received both. Early integration was associated with better quality of life, fewer hospital admissions, reduced aggressive interventions, and increased cost savings. Most referrals occurred late in the disease trajectory. ... Future research should focus on barriers to timely referral and evaluate their effects on clinical and economic outcomes in prostate cancer.

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.”

Palliative care interventions for caregivers of people with advanced dementia: A meta-analysis Sigma Global Nursing Excellence - Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing; by Ita Daryanti Saragih, Ira Suarilah, Hsun-Kuei Ko, Ice Septriani Saragih, Bih-O Lee; 12/11/25 Conclusion: Palliative care interventions were successful in reducing conflict in decision-making of caregivers of people with advanced dementia. ... Linking Evidence to Action: Future palliative care interventions for caregivers of advanced dementia patients should focus on developing the contents of palliative care materials based on evidence-based evaluations and explore strategies to improve engagement between patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.

Evaluating the impact of the End-of-Life Nursing Consortium Curricula: A systematic review of assessments and outcomesJournal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing; by Olga Ehrlich, Theresa Jizba, Mariela Hristova, Christine S Davidson, Dennis C Powless, Toni L Glover; 12/25The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) curricula prepare nurses to provide high-quality, evidence-based palliative care to patients with serious illness and their families. The original ELNEC program has been adapted to include nursing subspecialties and online learning modules, reaching nurses and students worldwide. This systematic literature review described the outcomes of nursing knowledge, attitudes, practice changes, and patient outcomes in studies that used ELNEC as a primary intervention. The findings revealed significant enhancements in knowledge of palliative care among nursing students and nurses, as well as a notable positive shift in attitudes toward caring for seriously ill and dying patients. However, findings also indicate a need for studies that apply rigorous methods using valid and reliable assessment instruments aligned with nursing competencies.

Award-winning documentary chronicles hospice nurse’s final 39 days Hospice Foundation of America (HFA) and TGBeyond, Washington, DC; Press Release; 12/1/25Hospice Foundation of America (HFA) and TGBeyond today announced the release of A Butterfly Has Been Released, an award-winning short documentary, alongside a new professional continuing education program, From Caregiver to Patient: Hospice Nurse Allyson’s Final 39 Days. Pre-purchase is available now, with formal release in January 2026. The 36-minute film follows Allyson, a hospice nurse with more than 20 years of experience guiding patients and families through death and grief, as she navigates her own final 39 days after a life-limiting diagnosis. Through candid kitchen-table conversations, a 150-person living funeral, and a natural green burial, Allyson demonstrates what she spent decades teaching others: live with purpose, presence, and connection until the very last day.Editor's Note: Is the concept of a "living funeral" new to you? I've seen this moving film several times, with a group discussion among healthcare professionals led by its producers Jason Zamer and Barry Koch. Click here for its 2-minute trailer.