Literature Review

United Nations Statistical Commission adopts the world’s first International Classification of Dying Places EurekAlert! American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Press Release; 11/5/26 For the first time, countries around the world have an international classification specifically designed to describe the places where people are cared for at the end of life and die. The United Nations Statistical Commission has adopted the International Classification of Dying Places (ICP), developed at the University of Coimbra through the European Research Council-funded EOLinPLACE Project. ... At its broadest level, the classification distinguishes five major types of dying places: dwelling or domicile; health or care facility; other facility; vehicle; and outdoor. These are further divided into detailed categories and subcategories, allowing distinctions between settings such as a person’s own residence and other types of dwelling; hospitals, long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, and independent hospice or palliative care facilities; ambulances and other vehicles; and different outdoor locations.

Rural residents faced nearly 3x higher risk of heart attack death before reaching a hospital American Heart Association, Dallas, TX; Scientific Sessions 2026, Abstract MDP2406; 11/2/26 People living in rural areas who experienced a heart attack were nearly three times more likely to die before reaching hospital care, compared to those living in large, metropolitan areas, according to new, independent, preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2026 [Nov. 6-9, Chicago]. ... Previously, there was limited data on exactly which populations and demographics were at greater risk of death before reaching hospital care. This study explored participants’ location at the time of heart attack and death, distance to the nearest hospital and whether deaths differed according to their age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, and urban or rural residency.  

Medicare spending rises after private equity buys hospices Harvard Medical School; by Harvard Medical School with byline, Jake Miller; 11/2/26 At a Glance 

Dartmouth Health study finds rural older adults have less access to intensive hospice care The Vermont Journal, Labanon, NH; 10/28/26 Older adults living in rural communities are less likely to receive hospice care, and when they do, are less likely to receive the most intensive hospice services for severe symptoms, according to a new study led by a Dartmouth Health researcher and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study found that 52.4% of older adults who died in urban ZIP codes received hospice care, compared with 44.8% of those in the most rural ZIP codes. ... Dr. Claire Ankuda, lead author of the study, palliative medicine physician at Dartmouth Health, and associate professor of medicine and of health policy and clinical practice at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine [said,] “What we found is that the biggest differences emerge when patients need more intensive, round-the-clock support – and that’s the gap we need to understand better.”

Competencies and barriers in the role of palliative nursing in cancer care Oncology Nurse Advisor; by Vicki Moore, PhD; 10/27/26 Nurses working in palliative oncology generally must integrate technical competence, emotional capacity, and cultural awareness across various stages of illness, according to a recent literature review published in the International Journal of Palliative Nursing, which also outlined challenges nurses may experience in this process. “While nurses demonstrate important strengths in symptom management and patient-family support, gaps remain in psychosocial, spiritual, cultural and ethical preparation,” the study’s authors wrote in their review. This integrative literature review was a synthesis of evidence regarding how competence, compassion, emotional labor, and educational preparation intersect in palliative oncology nursing.

HMN 2026: How palliative care understanding shapes preferences for end-of-life care Health Medicine Network; 99/28/26 A Swedish population-level study has found that people with a comprehensive understanding of palliative care are more likely to prefer end-of-life care at home or in a hospice. Among individuals with less understanding about palliative care, hospital care is preferred. ... The data were based on a random sample of 3,750 people ages 16–90 from the Swedish population register. 

IBM study finds 60% of employees worry AI is eroding critical thinking skills Complete AI Training; 9/21/26 A new IBM study finds that 60% of employees worry AI is eroding their skills, with critical thinking cited most often as declining. The research, released September 21, 2026, surveyed 1,500 CHROs and 8,800 employees globally, revealing a gap between the skills HR leaders say AI demands and what workers prioritize. While 71% of CHROs identify the ability to supervise, validate and override AI outputs as the workforce's most essential skill, only 29% of employees rank judgment as important. At the same time, CHROs cite critical thinking (57%) and human judgment (48%) as among the most important workforce capabilities.

Hospice Foundation of America receives Partner of the Year Award from Penn State College of MedicineHospice Foundation of America, Washington, DC; Press Release, Cindy Bramble; 9/11/26 Hospice Foundation of America (HFA) was named 2026 Partner of the Year by the Penn State University College of Medicine [Thursday, 9/10]. The award recognizes HFA’s significant contributions to a National Institutes of Health funded research initiative, the Project Talk Trial, which studied how to best engage communities across the U.S. in advance care planning. ... With its vast national network, HFA connected PSU College of Medicine researchers to community organizations across the country to bring advance care planning conversations to 1,799 people in 78 communities across 32 states and the District of Columbia. Project Talk Trial is the largest research study of its kind.Editor's Note: Congratulations, Hospice Foundation of America! We thank you for your longstanding, innovative leadership to improve hospice care throughout our nation.

How compassion and research build palliative care for the precision oncology era OncLive; by Ross Camidge, MD, PhD and Laura A. Petrillo, MD; 9/9/26 Drs. Camidge and Petrillo discuss Dr. Petrillo's evolution from a science-curious student to a leader in palliative care research. How This Is Building Me, hosted by world-renowned oncologist D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, is a podcast focused on the highs and lows, ups and downs of all those involved with cancer, cancer medicine, and cancer science across the full spectrum of life's experiences. In this episode, Dr Camidge sat down with Laura A. Petrillo, MD, a palliative care physician-investigator in the Division of Palliative Care and Geriatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

End-of-life care behind bars: regular reviews of articles and reports on key issues in prison hospice and palliative care.End-of-Life Care Behind Bars - A Periodic Literature Search; September 2026 issue Highlights: Prison palliative care and compassionate release should be treated as interconnected rather than competing mechanisms; the constitutional crisis of end-of-life care for incarcerated individuals; prison officers matter in end-of-life care; community hospice engagement in end-of-life care in prisons; person-first language in correctional healthcare – two perspectives; critical reappraisal of policy and practice in correctional healthcare; conducting ethical health research in prisons

How dementia is being defeated: Incidence among the elderly is falling fastThe Economist; 7/26When Eric Stallard, an actuary and academic, began looking into the incidence of dementia among elderly Americans, he was so stunned by his findings that he held off publishing his first paper on the subject for two and ahalf years while he double-checked his work... Instead of confirming the received wisdom that America faced an intensifying plague of the condition, they showed that the proportion of old people succumbing to it was in fact shrinking fast... Last year he and some colleagues published research in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that, whereas 40 years ago three in every ten Americans aged 85-89 had dementia, by 2024 just one in ten had it.

Nonreporting of race and ethnicity in medical research harms us all JAMA Internal Medicine | Editorial | Health Equity; by Sharon K. Inouye, MD, MPH, Jerard Kneifati-Hayek, MD, MS, Annette Flanagin, RN, MA, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS; Raegan W. Durant, MD, MPH; 8/24/26 At JAMA Internal Medicine, we have become increasingly aware that some US researchers are unable to report on race or ethnicity as demographic variables to describe their sample or to conduct stratified analyses by these variables. In some cases, we have been informed that based on 3 recent US federal executive orders, the stewards of federal databases, such as those responsible for distributing data from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), are unable to release any race or ethnicity data for research purposes. The restrictions may be particularly prohibitive when study investigators are US federal employees. We have been informed of similar concerns occurring at other biomedical journals. Editor's Note: This theme recurs throughout our American history. Stark examples repeatedly emerged when I was researching and writing my recent e-book: A History of Care: 250 Years of Need, Service and Hope.

SOS: What does Google and ChatGPT say about SSVI and quality?Substack; by Joan Teno; 8/26Medicare recently finalized a new hospice scorecard called the Service and Spending Variation Index (SSVI). It gives each Medicare-certified hospice a number from 0 to 16, built from nine billing-based measures, where a higher score flags a hospice whose spending and service patterns look unusual compared with its peers. A high score is not proof of bad care or fraud — it mainly signals to Medicare which hospices may be worth a closer look. In this post I asked Google Gemini and ChatGPT to interpret a sample hospice’s score, and I compare how well each explained what the number does, and does not, mean for a family choosing a hospice.Publisher's note: Even though Substack is a blog site rather than a journal, Joan's content is outstanding and also fits here on a Saturday research issue!