Literature Review

Thyme Care launches Integrated Social Support model, bringing proactive oncology social work to 8 million Americans upon diagnosis PR Newswire, Nashville, TN; by Thyme Care; 3/5/26 Thyme Care today announced the public launch of its Integrated Social Support (ISS) model, a redesigned approach to oncology navigation that positions licensed master's-level social workers as the first to intervene when members experience barriers to navigating their cancer. The announcement coincides with National Social Work Month in March, recognizing the essential role social workers play in improving health outcomes. An estimated 44% of individuals affected by cancer experience psychosocial burdens, which are associated with poorer health, clinical, and economic outcomes for patients and caregivers. Thyme Care's ISS model flips the approach by making licensed social workers one of the first points of contact for social, emotional, and practical needs, assessing members from day one and throughout their journey ...

Developing a tool to advance person-centred care in hospice: The little things are the big thingsPalliative Care and Social Practice; by Mary Ellen Macdonald, Sophia Salmaniw, Lisa McNeil-Campbell, Anne Frances D’Intino, Lynette Sawchuk, Cyndi Corbett, Logan Lawrence; 2/23/26 Person-centred care has become the cornerstone of quality palliative and end-of-life care. Yet, there is a dearth of both practical guidance and tools to operationalize how to ensure palliative end-of-life care is optimally person-centred. Noting this lacuna, a new hospice in Eastern Canada developed and piloted their own tool, called the SELFY (Share, Explore, Learn and Focus on You!), the intention being to standardize their institution’s commitment to high-quality person-centred hospice care.

Chronic pain and unrecognized grief: epistemic barriers to personal and social recognition Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy; by Christopher Jude McCarroll, Ying-Tung Lin, Dominik Koesling, and Claudia Bozzaro; 3/29/26 What is it to grieve? What is the nature of grief? ... Importantly, a close examination of the phenomenology of chronic pain helps illuminate the ways in which it also involves the kind of losses that we can grieve over. The losses involved in experiences of chronic pain impact one’s practical identity in ways that can lead to grief. This chronic pain grief remains largely unrecognized, however. We outline four epistemic barriers to recognizing the grief involved in experiences of chronic pain. ...

Oncologist perspectives on timely hospice referral: A qualitative study American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care; by Andrew Lynch, Andrea Altschuler, Joseph P Cosgrove, Hannah Whitehead, Corey Schwartz, Raymond Liu, Mina Chang; 3/7/26 Background: Late hospice referral rates are on the rise and are associated with negative outcomes at the end of life (EoL). Rates of late hospice referral vary drastically from oncologist to oncologist, and behavioral and psychological factors among individual oncologists have been identified as potential contributors to this variability. ...  Conclusions: Numerous factors independent of hospice eligibility were reported to influence hospice referral practices among oncologists. While some factors represent challenging cultural and social barriers to timely hospice referral, other system- and patient-specific barriers offer opportunities for potential interventions. 

Why time becomes ever more precious towards the end of our days ehospice; by Brian Dolan, OBE; 3/2/26 In health care, conversations about finance, workforce, and facilities often dominate the agenda. Yet, the most valuable and universal currency within our health systems is something less tangible but far more immediate: time. ... Time is the thread that connects patients and staff, shaping experiences, outcomes, and well-being. For patients, time is deeply personal. It is the time that comes dripping slow as hours are spent waiting in emergency departments, days of confinement to a hospital bed, and, ultimately, the quality of the life they return to when they are finally discharged. For staff, time determines how effectively they can deliver care, make decisions, and balance the demands of an increasingly pressured system. 

How family caregivers are shaping their own future AARP; by Paul Wynn; 2/18/26 Applying hard-learned lessons from caring for others, nearly half of caregivers are planning their own legal, financial and medical futures. Helen Bundy Medsger spent three decades caring for multiple family members, including her parents and sister, an experience that shaped both her advocacy and her determination to plan ahead so her two children don’t inherit the challenges she faced as a caregiver. ... 

Navigating end-of-life decisions with Islamic ethics WisconsinMuslimJournal.org; by Sandra Whitehead; 2/20/26 Medical College of Wisconsin Professor Aasim I. Padela, M.D., founder and president of the Initiative on Islam and Medicine, discussed Islamic bioethics during a January workshop on end-of-life decisions at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. ... About 50 people attended the four-hour workshop, Islamic Bioethics & End-of-Life Healthcare Decisions, held Jan. 31 at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. It featured experts with backgrounds in medicine, palliative care, hospice and Islam. Speakers made presentations and led discussions about practical steps, resources and strategies to help Muslims “transition from a state of uncertainty about end-of-life healthcare to thoughtful preparation for it,” a workbook given to participants stated.

Palliative care utilization and timing for patients undergoing solid organ transplantation in a large multicenter cohortTransplantation; by Matthew W Kenaston, Ryan Baldeo, Tyler K Murphy; 1/26Palliative care ... referrals in transplant programs are infrequent, often reactive, and the benefits remain unclear. We retrospectively studied 12,676 heart, liver, lung, and kidney transplants across 3 Mayo Clinic sites (2018-2024). PC encounters were classified as pretransplant (≤1 y before admission), peritransplant (during hospitalization), or posttransplant (≤1 y after discharge). Only 8.3% engaged PC, with patterns varying by organ and timing. Timing of inpatient consultation showed a strong positive correlation with hospital length of stay, and pretransplant PC coincided with higher rates of goals-of-care discussions and fewer hospital interventions. Adapting screening criteria to focus on high-risk recipients, PC was associated with fewer short-term readmissions for heart and lung recipients.

What my sister Ellen taught me about dignity and the importance of being seen: A powerful reflection on person-centered care, bias, and the true meaning of human dignity in medicine Good Men Project; by Harvey Max Chochinov; 2/23/26 Several years before her death at the age of 55 years due to complications of cerebral palsy, my sister Ellen was again in hospital, this time in intensive care and on the brink of respiratory collapse.  ... I’ve spent my entire career as a psychiatrist working in palliative care. This has included leading a large program of research, examining most aspects of end-of-life experience for patients nearing death. Recently I have recast the Golden Rule for healthcare professionals, reminding them they must aspire to a higher standard. I have coined this The Platinum Rule: do unto others as they would want done unto themselves. This means that healthcare professionals can’t presume to know what is in the patient’s best interest based on what they themselves would want in those circumstances; in other words, they need to take the time to consider the patient’s goals, hopes and wishes.

Hospice use rising for seniors following ICU stays U.S. News & World Report; by Deanna Neff, HealthDay News; 2/25/26For many older Americans, the intensive care unit (ICU) is a place of aggressive, life-saving intervention. However, a new national study reveals that more seniors are choosing a different path — transitioning from the high-tech world of the ICU to the comfort-focused environment of hospice. ... Between 2011 and 2023, the number of Medicare beneficiaries discharged to hospice after an ICU stay increased significantly, researchers from Boston University’s School of Medicine found. This shift occurred even as overall death rates remained steady, suggesting that the change in setting wasn’t tied to more people dying, but rather about how and where people spent their final days.Editor's Note: We posted a similar article on 2/23/26. We post this article for your awareness and use, due to its high profile in U.S. News & World Report.

Hospital chaplain shares what end-of-life patients regret most Religion Unplugged; by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans; 2/24/26 ... In her research focused on the greater Boston area, Brandeis University professor (now President of Bryn Mawr College) Wendy Cadge found that many chaplains — whether they serve in hospitals, prisons or the military — often focus on end-of-life care and “big questions,” ones that might arise more forcefully in a time of crisis. ... When I’m with people near the end of their lives, what I most often witness is not fear of death itself, but grief over unfinished relationships and or unexpressed parts of the self. Many people grieve time they now see as wasted on what felt urgent in the moment but unimportant in hindsight — work that eclipsed connection, worry that crowded out presence, obligations that pulled them away from what actually nourished them. Alongside this is grief for words left unsaid, tenderness withheld, and versions of themselves they didn’t feel permitted to become.

A nationwide retrospective analysis of trends in palliative care consultation and do-not-resuscitate status in heart failure hospitalizations Palliative Medicine; by Nikitha Murthy, Ramy Sedhom, Purvi Parwani, Megan Pelter, Liset Stoletniy, Tanya Doctorian, Diane Tran, Antoine Sakr, Dmitry Abramov; 2/21/26 Conclusions: While palliative care and do-not-resuscitate use among heart failure hospitalizations have increased, they remain low. Over half of those who die during a heart failure admission do not receive palliative care consultation, underscoring missed opportunities to optimize end-of-life care.