Literature Review

Virtual reality is a tool for education, relaxation for nurses and patientsOncology Nursing News, by Darlene Dobkowski, MA; 2/13/24Simulated experiences using virtual reality (VR) can help oncology nurses alleviate a patient’s anxiety before undergoing treatment, provide comfort in palliative care settings, and serve as an educational tool for both nurses and patients.

Tier - Palliative Care: A population-based care delivery model to match evolving patient needs to palliative care services for community-based patients with heart failure or cancer [This link goes to the more detailed National Institutes of Health (NIH) description of this clinical trial.]Genomics & Genetics Daily, by a news reporter-staff news editor; 2/14/24Staff editors report on the newly launched clinical trial, NCT06228209, which has the following summary description: "TIER-PC is an adaptive model of delivering palliative care that provides the right level of care to the right patients at the right time. It represents an adaption of the Mount Sinai PALLIATIVE CARE AT HOME (PC@H) program, which delivers home-based palliative care. TIER-PC increases the number and intensity of disciplines added to the patient's care team as their symptoms worsen and function declines."

Advance planning values and end-of-life care among patients on dialysisdocwirenews, by Victoria Socha; 2/12/24... Patients treated with dialysis are also more likely to die in the hospital and less likely to receive hospice care. [Researchers] conducted a survey designed to examine the association between patients’ health care values and engagement in advance care planning and end-of-life care. Analyses of survey responses were reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.

How to support adolescents and young adults with cancer at the end of lifeThe Oncology Nursing Society Voice, by Kimberly Rivera DNP, RN-BC, OCN®, NPD-BC; 2/12/24... [Cancer] is the fourth leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults (AYAs), following accidents, suicide, and homicide. ... Appropriately defining the difference between palliative and end-of-life care can improve AYAs’ engagement with services such as advance care planning—a specific step that increases AYAs’ likelihood of receiving early palliative care. However, many palliative and hospice care services are geared toward pediatric or adult populations and may not meet AYAs’ unique needs, impeding effective care planning.

Large study ties OCD to greater risk of death from any causeJAMA, by Emily Harris; 2/7/24Previous research on the mortality risk of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has shown mixed results and hasn’t gone into specific causes of death. Now, results from a large cohort study published in The BMJ suggests they have an 82% higher risk of dying from all causes.

Delivering effective messages in the patient-clinician encounter JAMA, by Joseph N. Cappella, PhD and Richard L. Street Jr, PhD; 2/1/24Effective communication between patient and clinician is a core function of the medical encounter.In a survey of cancer survivors, communication breakdowns most often identified by respondents were failures of information exchange, both in information provided by the clinician (eg, too complex, not enough) and in missing information from the patient or failing to elicit it. ... [A] table provides specific examples of what clinicians can (and should not) do to accomplish [effective communication] goals.

Joint inpatient palliative care approaches may reduce length of stay in intensive care unitsPhysician's Weekly; 2/7/24Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) would benefit from having an Inpatient Palliative Care (IPC) team to help them through this difficult chapter in their lives. An IPC team usually help patients manage their symptoms and pain along with providing support to them and their families and assisting with communication to ensure realistic expectations.

NHPCO Publishes Culturally Sensitive Communications to Enhance Care Delivery: A resource guide for healthcare professionalsNHPCO Press Release; 1/30/24The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (NHPCO) Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) published Culturally Sensitive Communications to Enhance Care Delivery: A Resource Guide for Healthcare Professionals. ... It contains information from a multitude of NHPCO resources, such as the Hospice Through The DEI Lens report, Inclusion and Access Toolkit, Black and African American Outreach Guide, Chinese American Resource Guide, Latino Outreach Guide, and LGBTQ+ Resource Guide, as well as information from additional external research sources.

Emergency department management of common end-of-life and palliative care symptoms: Three casesCureus, by Alice Chang, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna; 2/4/24... Patients with serious illness, even hospice patients, present to the ED in increasing numbers for symptom management. It has become essential for emergency physicians to care for patients who are not seeking life-sustaining measures but instead need quality-of-life interventions. The development of a clear, concise review of the most common acute symptoms can provide a framework for EM physicians to adequately address the needs of patients at the EOL.

Cancer facts & figures 2024American Cancer Society; 2024Cancer Facts & Figures 2024 is an educational companion for Cancer Statistics 2024, a scientific paper published in the American Cancer Society journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. These annual reports provide:

Palliative care use trends, racial/ethnic disparities, and overall survival differences among patients with metastatic breast cancerJ Palliat Med, by Jincong Q Freeman, Olasubomi J Omoleye, Fangyuan Zhao, Dezheng Huo; 2/1/24Conclusions: Palliative care utilization among MBC [Metastatic Breast Cancer] patients significantly increased but remained suboptimal. Racial/ethnic minority patients were less likely to use palliative care, and Black patients had worse survival, than White patients, suggesting the need for improving palliative care access and ameliorating disparities in MBC patients.

Odds for dementia nearly triple in the year after a strokeHealth Day, by Ernie Mundell; 2/1/24A person's odds for a dementia diagnosis nearly triple in the first year after a stroke, new research shows. This post-stroke spike in dementia risk does subside with time, but it never returns to pre-stroke levels, the same report found. "Our findings reinforce the importance of monitoring people with stroke for cognitive decline," said lead researcher Dr. Raed Joundi. 

Global cancer burden growing, amidst mounting need for services World Health Organization; 2/1/24Ahead of World Cancer Day, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), released the latest estimates of the global burden of cancer.  ... Three major cancer types in 2022: lung, breast and colorectal cancers