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An Overview of the ACE Project—Advocating for Clinical Excellence: Transdisciplinary Palliative Care Education
Otis-Green, Shirley; Ferrell, Betty; Spolum, Maren; Uman, Gwen; Mullan, Patricia; Baird, Reverend Pamela; Grant, Marcia
Background Excellence in palliative care demands attention to the multidimensional aspects of patient and family suffering, yet too few psycho-oncology professionals report adequate preparation in this vital area. Methods A total of 148 competitively selected psychologists, social workers, and spiritual care professionals participated in intensive educational courses to enhance their palliative care delivery, leadership, and advocacy skills. Extensive process and outcome evaluations measured the effectiveness of this educational program. Results To date, 2 national courses have been completed. The courses received strong overall evaluations, with participants rating increased confidence in defined palliative care skills. Conclusions The initial results of this innovative National Cancer Institute-funded transdisciplinary training for psycho-oncology professionals affirm the need and feasibility of the program. See the Advocating for Clinical Excellence Project Web site (www.cityofhope.org/ACEproject) for additional course information. PMID:19431028
Building a transdisciplinary approach to palliative care in an acute care setting.
Daly, Donnelle; Matzel, Stephen Chavez
A transdisciplinary team is an essential component of palliative and end-of-life care. This article will demonstrate how to develop a transdisciplinary approach to palliative care, incorporating nursing, social work, spiritual care, and pharmacy in an acute care setting. Objectives included: identifying transdisciplinary roles contributing to care in the acute care setting; defining the palliative care model and mission; identifying patient/family and institutional needs; and developing palliative care tools. Methods included a needs assessment and the development of assessment tools, an education program, community resources, and a patient satisfaction survey. After 1 year of implementation, the transdisciplinary palliative care team consisted of seven palliative care physicians, two social workers, two chaplains, a pharmacist, and End-of-Life Nursing Consortium (ELNEC) trained nurses. Palomar Health now has a palliative care service with a consistent process for transdisciplinary communication and intervention for adult critical care patients with advanced, chronic illness. PMID:23977778
Benchmarking: a tool for excellence in palliative care.
Murray, J A; Murray, M H
Quietly and without fanfare, total quality management (TQM) is being implemented in a branch of health care where quality of care has particular impact on the patient's comfort and well-being. Some palliative care providers, dedicated to improving the quality of life for the dying, have fulfilled all the criteria to be contenders for prestigious quality honors like the Baldrige Award in the United States and the Canada Award for Excellence. Their secret is simple: the patient defines quality, and the palliative care team acts on that definition. Benchmarking, a TQM tool, allows institutions and organizations to benefit from sharing their best processes, and keeps the TQM continuous improvement cycle on track. PMID:1487793
ACE Project ∼ Advocating for Clinical Excellence: Creating Change in the Delivery of Palliative Care
Otis-Green, Shirley; Yang, Eunice; Lynne, Lisa
Background Psychologists, social workers and spiritual care professionals report inadequate preparation to maximize their effectiveness in advocating for institutional reform to meet oncology patients' diverse bio-psychosocial-spiritual and cultural needs. This article provides an overview of the ACE Project, a National Cancer Institute, 5 year, R25-funded transdisciplinary palliative care education program designed to enhance the advocacy and leadership skills of 301 competitively selected psycho-oncology professionals. Methods ACE Project participants identified an institutional goal, refined their goals during the course and received mentorship and support throughout the subsequent year. Participants were invited to return to a Reunion Conference in year five to report on their activities, network and share the results of their change efforts. A subset of 28 ACE Project participants contributed to this OMEGA special issue. Results Participants' goals primarily focused on strategies to improve clinical care through program development and improvements in palliative care education within their institutions. Conclusions The results of this transdisciplinary leadership skills-building program for psycho-oncology professionals affirm the feasibility and perceived need for the program. See the ACE Project website (http://www.cityofhope.org/ace-project ) for additional program information. PMID:23977775
Integrated Transdisciplinary Teams.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gallivan-Fenlon, Amanda
This article reviews the use of transdisciplinary teaming and integrated therapy for young children with multiple disabilities. It presents examples and suggestions for implementation, in the areas of flexibility, Individualized Education Program development, and parent participation. (JDD)
Palliative care is treatment of the discomfort, symptoms, and stress of serious illness. It provides relief from distressing ... care at the end of life, always includes palliative care. But you may receive palliative care at any ...
... 5 Things to Know About Zika & Pregnancy Palliative Care KidsHealth > For Parents > Palliative Care Print A A ... decisions about their child's care. Who Needs Palliative Care? Any child who has a serious, complex, or ...
Transdisciplinary Research and Aboriginal Knowledge
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Christie, Michael
Indigenous academic researchers are involved in Indigenist, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, all of which present problems and opportunities for Indigenous knowledge traditions. "Transdisciplinary" research is different from "interdisciplinary" research because it moves beyond the disciplinarity of the university and takes into…
Problematizing Disciplinarity, Transdisciplinary Problematics
This article situates current debates about transdisciplinarity within the deeper history of academic disciplinarity, in its difference from the notions of inter- and multi-disciplinarity. It offers a brief typology and history of established conceptions of transdisciplinarity within science and technology studies. It then goes on to raise the question of the conceptual structure of transdisciplinary generality in the humanities, with respect to the incorporation of the 19th- and 20th-century German and French philosophical traditions into the anglophone humanities, under the name of 'theory'. It identifies two distinct – dialectical and anti-dialectical, or dialectical and transversal – transdisciplinary trajectories. It locates the various contributions to the special issue of which it is the introduction within this conceptual field, drawing attention to the distinct contribution of the French debates about structuralism and its aftermath – those by Serres, Foucault, Derrida, Guattari and Latour, in particular. It concludes with an appendix on Foucault's place within current debates about disciplinarity and academic disciplines. PMID:26456992
Author Credit for Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Xu, Jian; Ding, Ying; Malic, Vincent
Transdisciplinary collaboration is the key for innovation. An evaluation mechanism is necessary to ensure that academic credit for this costly process can be allocated fairly among coauthors. This paper proposes a set of quantitative measures (e.g., t_credit and t_index) to reflect authors' transdisciplinary contributions to publications. These measures are based on paper-topic probability distributions and author-topic probability distributions. We conduct an empirical analysis of the information retrieval domain which demonstrates that these measures effectively improve the results of harmonic_credit and h_index measures by taking into account the transdisciplinary contributions of authors. The definitions of t_credit and t_index provide a fair and effective way for research organizations to assign credit to authors of transdisciplinary publications. PMID:26375678
Author Credit for Transdisciplinary Collaboration.
Xu, Jian; Ding, Ying; Malic, Vincent
Transdisciplinary collaboration is the key for innovation. An evaluation mechanism is necessary to ensure that academic credit for this costly process can be allocated fairly among coauthors. This paper proposes a set of quantitative measures (e.g., t_credit and t_index) to reflect authors' transdisciplinary contributions to publications. These measures are based on paper-topic probability distributions and author-topic probability distributions. We conduct an empirical analysis of the information retrieval domain which demonstrates that these measures effectively improve the results of harmonic_credit and h_index measures by taking into account the transdisciplinary contributions of authors. The definitions of t_credit and t_index provide a fair and effective way for research organizations to assign credit to authors of transdisciplinary publications. PMID:26375678
Interaction of palliative care and primary care.
Ghosh, Amrita; Dzeng, Elizabeth; Cheng, M Jennifer
Primary care physicians are often the first medical providers patients seek out, and are in an excellent position to provide primary palliative care. Primary palliative care encompasses basic skills including basic evaluation and management of symptoms and discussions about goals of care and advance care planning. Specialty palliative care consultation complements primary care by assisting with complex psychosocial-spiritual patient and family situations. This article reviews primary palliative care skill sets and criteria for when to consider referring patients to specialty palliative care and hospice services. PMID:25920056
... you with all of these questions and discussions. Making Decisions About End-of-Life Care DNR/DNI/AND ... Experience Positive Growth? Grieving and Palliative Care Overview Making Decisions About End-of-Life Care DNR/DNI/AND ...
Palliative care is treatment of the discomfort, symptoms, and stress of serious illness. It provides relief from distressing symptoms ... of the medical treatments you're receiving. Hospice care, care at the end of life, always includes ...
Matzo, Marianne
This article is the first in a series on palliative care developed in collaboration with the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA; http://hpna.advancingexpertcare.org). The HPNA aims to guide nurses in preventing and relieving suffering and in giving the best possible care to patients and families, regardless of the stage of disease or the need for other therapies. The HPNA offers education, certification, advocacy, leadership, and research. PMID:27227867
The duty of the physician to care for the family in pediatric palliative care: context, communication, and caring.
Jones, Barbara L; Contro, Nancy; Koch, Kendra D
Pediatric palliative care physicians have an ethical duty to care for the families of children with life-threatening conditions through their illness and bereavement. This duty is predicated on 2 important factors: (1) best interest of the child and (2) nonabandonment. Children exist in the context of a family and therefore excellent care for the child must include attention to the needs of the family, including siblings. The principle of nonabandonment is an important one in pediatric palliative care, as many families report being well cared for during their child's treatment, but feel as if the physicians and team members suddenly disappear after the death of the child. Family-centered care requires frequent, kind, and accurate communication with parents that leads to shared decision-making during treatment, care of parents and siblings during end-of-life, and assistance to the family in bereavement after death. Despite the challenges to this comprehensive care, physicians can support and be supported by their transdisciplinary palliative care team members in providing compassionate, ethical, and holistic care to the entire family when a child is ill. PMID:24488541
Establishing the Infrastructure to Comprehensively Address Cancer Disparities: A Model for Transdisciplinary Approaches
Green, B. Lee; Rivers, Desiree A.; Kumar, Nagi; Baldwin, Julie; Rivers, Brian M.; Sultan, Dawood; Jacobsen, Paul; Gordon, Leslene E.; Davis, Jenna; Roetzheim, Richard
Summary The Center for Equal Health (CEH), a transdisciplinary Center of Excellence, was established to investigate cancer disparities comprehensively and achieve health equity through research, education, training, and community outreach. This paper discusses challenges faced by CEH, strategies employed to foster collaborations, lessons learned, and future considerations for establishing similar initiatives. PMID:24185157
Enhancing Transdisciplinary Research Through Collaborative Leadership
Gray, Barbara
Transcending the well-established and familiar boundaries of disciplinary silos poses challenges for even the most interpersonally competent scientists. This paper explores the challenges inherent in leading transdisciplinary projects, detailing the critical roles that leaders play in shepherding transdisciplinary scientific endeavors. Three types of leadership tasks are considered: cognitive, structural, and processual. Distinctions are made between leading small, co-located projects and large, dispersed ones. Finally, social-network analysis is proposed as a useful tool for conducting research on leadership, and, in particular, on the role of brokers, on complex transdisciplinary teams. PMID:18619392
Conducting Transdisciplinary Research with Severely Handicapped Individuals.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sobsey, Richard J.; Orelove, Fred P.
The importance of transdisciplinary research is noted, and guidelines emphasize planning and cooperation among team members. Recommendations address ways to break down disciplinary barriers and view the coordinator's role as facilitator. (CL)
Comfort care; End of life - palliative care; Hospice - palliative care ... The goal of palliative care is to help patients with serious illnesses feel better. It prevents or treats symptoms and side effects of disease ...
Comfort care; End of life - palliative care; Hospice - palliative care ... The goal of palliative care is to help people with serious illnesses feel better. It prevents or treats symptoms and side effects of disease and ...
... or efforts to cure your illness. Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Health Administration benefits, and private health insurance cover many palliative care services. Many hospitals provide palliative care, and it ...
Socially-integrated transdisciplinary HIV prevention.
Friedman, Samuel R; Downing, Martin J; Smyrnov, Pavlo; Nikolopoulos, Georgios; Schneider, John A; Livak, Britt; Magiorkinis, Gkikas; Slobodianyk, Liudmyla; Vasylyeva, Tetyana I; Paraskevis, Dimitrios; Psichogiou, Mina; Sypsa, Vana; Malliori, Melpomeni M; Hatzakis, Angelos
Current ideas about HIV prevention include a mixture of primarily biomedical interventions, socio-mechanical interventions such as sterile syringe and condom distribution, and behavioral interventions. This article presents a framework for socially-integrated transdisciplinary HIV prevention that may improve current prevention efforts. It first describes one socially-integrated transdisciplinary intervention project, the Transmission Reduction Intervention Project. We focus on how social aspects of the intervention integrate its component parts across disciplines and processes at different levels of analysis. We then present socially-integrated perspectives about how to improve combination antiretroviral treatment (cART) processes at the population level in order to solve the problems of the treatment cascade and make "treatment as prevention" more effective. Finally, we discuss some remaining problems and issues in such a social transdisciplinary intervention in the hope that other researchers and public health agents will develop additional socially-integrated interventions for HIV and other diseases. PMID:24165983
Socially-Integrated Transdisciplinary HIV Prevention
Downing, Martin J.; Smyrnov, Pavlo; Nikolopoulos, Georgios; Schneider, John A.; Livak, Britt; Magiorkinis, Gkikas; Slobodianyk, Liudmyla; Vasylyeva, Tetyana I.; Paraskevis, Dimitrios; Psichogiou, Mina; Sypsa, Vana; Malliori, Melpomeni M.; Hatzakis, Angelos
Current ideas about HIV prevention include a mixture of primarily biomedical interventions, sociomechanical interventions such as sterile syringe and condom distribution, and behavioral interventions. This article presents a framework for socially-integrated transdisciplinary HIV prevention that may improve current prevention efforts. It first describes one socially-integrated transdisciplinary intervention project, the Transmission Reduction Intervention Project. We focus on how social aspects of the intervention integrate its component parts across disciplines and processes at different levels of analysis. We then present socially-integrated perspectives about how to improve combination antiretroviral treatment (cART) processes at the population level in order to solve the problems of the treatment cascade and make "treatment as prevention" more effective. Finally, we discuss some remaining problems and issues in such a social transdisciplinary intervention in the hope that other researchers and public health agents will develop additional socially-integrated interventions for HIV and other diseases. PMID:24165983
Early Intervention Team Approaches: The Transdisciplinary Model.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Woodruff, Geneva; McGonigel, Mary J.
Part of a volume which explores current issues in service delivery to infants and toddlers (ages birth to 3) with handicapping conditions, this chapter defines the team concept as it relates to the field of early intervention and describes three approaches (multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary) commonly used to organize…
A Transdisciplinary Model for Curricular Revision.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Massey, Carole M.
An interdisciplinary core curriculum for nursing and occupational, physical, and respiratory therapy is based on a client-focused care delivery system. The organizational framework identifies independent, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary functions of each field in terms of four roles: care provider/patient advocate, collaboration,…
Synecdoche and Surprise: Transdisciplinary Knowledge Production
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dalke, Anne; McCormack, Elizabeth F.
Using contemporary insights from feminist critical theory and the literary device of synecdoche, we argue that transdisciplinary knowledge is productive because it maximizes serendipity. We draw on student learning experiences in a course on "Gender and Science" to illustrate how the dichotomous frameworks and part-whole correspondences that are…
Inclusion through Transdisciplinary Teaming (ITT). Final Report.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Olson, Jennifer; And Others
This final report describes the Inclusion through Transdisciplinary Teaming (ITT) project, which provided support to personnel working in schools, child care centers, and Head Start programs as they designed and provided services that included young children with disabilities and their families. During its 3 years of outreach, ITT project staff…
The Complexity of Transdisciplinary Literature Reviews
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Montuori, Alfonso
The transdisciplinary literature review is an opportunity to situate the inquirer in an ecology of ideas. This article explores how we might approach this process from a perspective of complexity, and addresses some of the key challenges and opportunities. Four main dimensions are considered: (a) inquiry-based rather than discipline-based; (b)…
Mind, Brain, and Education: A Transdisciplinary Field
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Knox, Rockey
The emerging field of mind, brain, and education (MBE) is grappling with core issues associated with its identity, scope, and method. This article examines some of the most pressing issues that structure the development of MBE as a transdisciplinary effort. Rather than representing the ongoing debates in MBE as superficial squabbles to eventually…
Thoughts about multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research.
Fawcett, Jacqueline
This essay focuses on multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research. The definitions and objectives for these three types of multiple discipline research are given. Discussion centers on the gains and losses that may be experienced by individual nurses who engage in such research, as well as gains and losses for the discipline of nursing. PMID:24085679
The Support of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Programs.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Crawford, Bryce
Graduate degree programs in the University of Minnesota Graduate School are set up without formal reference to departments. The graduate faculty having governance of a given major field generally includes scholars in more than one department. The idea of transdisciplinary programs is thus widely accepted. Problems arise, however, when it comes to…
Nurturing humanism through teaching palliative care.
Block, S; Billings, J A
After many years of neglect by the medical establishment, the discipline of palliative medicine is finally moving into academic health centers (AHCs). While hospice programs have cared for dying patients in the community for years with little input from mainstream medicine, palliative care is gaining a foothold in AHCs, challenging these centers to integrate the hospice approach with biomedicine. The discipline of palliative care promises to be a rich source of learning and growth for physicians-in-training. Teaching about palliative care affirms two essential but vulnerable dimensions of the practice of medicine--the importance of relationship-centered care and the value of doctoring as a source of meaning and growth for physicians. In addition to fostering fundamental humanistic learning, palliative medicine is an excellent vehicle for teaching basic but often neglected clinical competencies, including pain and symptom control, communication, and working as part of a health care team. Because palliative care settings offer extraordinary learning opportunities, the authors recommend that clinical experiences in palliative care be integrated into the core curricula of all medical schools as well as appropriate residency programs. PMID:9679465
... palliative care is beneficial? Yes. Research shows that palliative care and its many components are beneficial to patient and family health and well-being. A number of studies in recent years have shown that patients who ...
Palliative care - managing pain
Palliative care helps people with serious illnesses feel better. One of the problems a serious illness can cause ... Bookbinder M, McHugh ME. Symptom management in palliative care and ... Challenging pain problems. In: Walsh D, Caraceni AT, Fainsinger ...
Esophagus Cancer: Palliative Therapy
... your doctor about cancer of the esophagus? Palliative therapy for cancer of the esophagus Palliative therapy is ... therapy Electrocoagulation Laser ablation Argon plasma coagulation Radiation therapy External-beam radiation can often help relieve some ...
The Island Hospice model of palliative care
Khumalo, Thembelihle; Maasdorp, Valerie
There has been a substantial increase in cancer detections in Africa over years, and it has also been noted that higher number of individuals are affected by the later stages of cancer that lead to death. When it comes to cancer care, Zimbabwe is no exception with its ongoing palliative care related research, though still in its infancy. The need for advanced and more accessible palliative care to assist the vulnerable has been intensified by this increase in cancer prevalence. Island Hospice, which is a centre of excellence in palliative care has varying elements of the models that it employs to engage those most in need of palliative assistance, especially children and financially-challenged individuals. PMID:27563349
The Island Hospice model of palliative care.
Khumalo, Thembelihle; Maasdorp, Valerie
There has been a substantial increase in cancer detections in Africa over years, and it has also been noted that higher number of individuals are affected by the later stages of cancer that lead to death. When it comes to cancer care, Zimbabwe is no exception with its ongoing palliative care related research, though still in its infancy. The need for advanced and more accessible palliative care to assist the vulnerable has been intensified by this increase in cancer prevalence. Island Hospice, which is a centre of excellence in palliative care has varying elements of the models that it employs to engage those most in need of palliative assistance, especially children and financially-challenged individuals. PMID:27563349
[A transdisciplinary model for public health research].
Betancourt, José Aureliano
Human resources education for health workers has been predominantly discipline-oriented and fragmented, influencing research design and, in turn, scientific output. Several authors argue that university education should transition from disciplinarity to transdisciplinarity. To gather the theoretical underpinnings for this subject of international interest, a literature search was conducted in the PubMed, EBSCO, and SciELO databases in 2012, using the terms "transdisciplinary and translational research" in Spanish and English. The majority of authors believe that identifying problems from different perspectives by specialists and community members and leaders will be conducive to more effective intersectoral interventions. They suggest undertaking organizational change to reshape reshaping work styles and self-organizational forms of scientific activity. Finally, a transdisciplinary model for public health research has been proposed that is based on traditional project design tools, but with variations borrowed from a complex systems approach. PMID:24553764
Boersma, Isabel; Miyasaki, Janis; Kutner, Jean
Palliative care is an approach to the care of patients and families facing progressive and chronic illnesses that focuses on the relief of suffering due to physical symptoms, psychosocial issues, and spiritual distress. As neurologists care for patients with chronic, progressive, life-limiting, and disabling conditions, it is important that they understand and learn to apply the principles of palliative medicine. In this article, we aim to provide a practical starting point in palliative medicine for neurologists by answering the following questions: (1) What is palliative care and what is hospice care? (2) What are the palliative care needs of neurology patients? (3) Do neurology patients have unique palliative care needs? and (4) How can palliative care be integrated into neurology practice? We cover several fundamental palliative care skills relevant to neurologists, including communication of bad news, symptom assessment and management, advance care planning, caregiver assessment, and appropriate referral to hospice and other palliative care services. We conclude by suggesting areas for future educational efforts and research. PMID:24991027
Knowledge Integration: A Key Challenge for Transdisciplinary Cooperation
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Godemann, Jasmin
In both transdisciplinary education and transdisciplinary research projects, bodies of knowledge must be brought together which are structured in fundamentally different ways. Besides the clear divide between practical, everyday knowledge and academic knowledge, there is also a range of distinct discipline-based outlooks; all of these are to be…
System Experts and Decision Making Experts in Transdisciplinary Projects
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mieg, Harald A.
Purpose: This paper aims at a better understanding of expert roles in transdisciplinary projects. Thus, the main purpose is the analysis of the roles of experts in transdisciplinary projects. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis of the ETH-UNS case studies from the point of view of the psychology of expertise and the sociology of professions…
Complex, Dynamic Systems: A New Transdisciplinary Theme for Applied Linguistics?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Larsen-Freeman, Diane
In this plenary address, I suggest that Complexity Theory has the potential to contribute a transdisciplinary theme to applied linguistics. Transdisciplinary themes supersede disciplines and spur new kinds of creative activity (Halliday 2001 [1990]). Investigating complex systems requires researchers to pay attention to system dynamics. Since…
Weissman, David E; Blust, Linda
Palliative care education includes the domains of pain and nonpain symptom management, communications skills, ethics and law, psychosocial care, and health systems. Defining key attitudes, knowledge, and skill objectives, and matching these to appropriate learning formats, is essential in educational planning. Abundant educational resource material is available to support classroom and experiential palliative care training. PMID:15639043
Palliative medicine in Britain.
Doyle, Derek
In Britain, Palliative Medicine was recognized as a subspecialty of Internal Medicine exactly 20 years after Cicely Saunders founded St Christopher's, at exactly the same time that government was at last recognizing the worth and the needs of general practice. Both had far-reaching effects and implications for patients, doctors, and the future of medicine. For Palliative Medicine it meant units wishing to train specialists going through a rigorous selection process; the development of an equally rigorous training program for the doctors who had already gained a higher qualification before starting Palliative Medicine, demonstrating the need for and benefits of palliative medicine to the sceptics in the profession and, now, continuing to recruit the staff for the steadily increasing number of new services. Today there are more Palliative Medicine consultants/specialists than there are oncologists and neurologists combined, with Hospital Palliative Care Teams in every major hospital and cancer center. With nine Chairs in Palliative Medicine, there is now a drive for research and professional education. The specialty faces major challenges, however, ranging from training to care for patients with non-malignant disease to enabling patients to die in the place of their choice-something that rarely happens today; from defining what is distinctive or unique about palliative medicine to clarifying the respective place of general practice and the specialty. Most would agree that the biggest challenge for the young, thriving specialty is how to share its principles with other doctors wherever they work. PMID:18051021
Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association: integrating palliative care in public hospitals in Kenya
Ali, Zipporah
Background In Kenya, cancers as a disease group rank third as a cause of death after infectious and cardiovascular diseases. It is estimated that the annual incidence of cancer is about 37,000 new cases with an annual mortality of 28,000 cases (Kenya National Cancer Control Strategy 2010). The incidence of non-communicable diseases accounts for more than 50% of total hospital admissions and over 55% of hospital deaths (Kenya National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Non Communicable Diseases 2015–2020). The prevalence of HIV is 6.8 (KIAS 2014). Most of these patients will benefit from palliative care services, hence the need to integrate palliative care services in the public healthcare system. Method The process of integrating palliative care in public hospitals involved advocacy both at the national level and at the institutional level, training of healthcare professionals, and setting up services within the hospitals that we worked with. Technical support was provided to each individual institution as needed. Results Eleven provincial hospitals across the country have now integrated palliative care services (Palliative Care Units) and are now centres of excellence. Over 220 healthcare providers have been trained, and approximately, over 30,000 patients have benefited from these services. Oral morphine is now available in the hospital palliative care units. Conclusion As a success of the pilot project, Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) is now working with the Ministry of Health Kenya to integrate palliative care services in 30 other county hospitals across the country, thus ensuring more availability and access to more patients. Other developing countries can learn from Kenya's successful experience.
[Palliative care in neurology].
Provinciali, Leandro; Tarquini, Daniela; De Falco, Fabrizio A; Carlini, Giulia; Zappia, Mario; Toni, Danilo
Palliative care in neurology is characterized by the need of taking into account some distinguishing features which supplement and often differ from the general palliative approach to cancer or to severe organ failures. Such position is emphasized by a new concept of palliative assistance which is not limited to the "end of life" stage, as it was the traditional one, but is applied along the entire course of progressive, life-limiting, and disabling conditions. There are various reasons accounting for a differentiation of palliative care in neurology and for the development of specific expertise; the long duration of the advanced stages of many neurological diseases and the distinguishing features of some clinical problems (cognitive disorders, psychic disorders, etc.), in addition to the deterioration of some general aspects (nutrition, etc.), make the general criteria adopted for cancer, severe respiratory, hepatic or renal failures and heart failure inadequate. The neurological diseases which could benefit from the development of a specific palliative approach are dementia, cerebrovascular diseases, movement disorders, neuromuscular diseases, severe traumatic brain injury, brain cancers and multiple sclerosis, as well as less frequent conditions. The growing literature on palliative care in neurology provides evidence of the neurological community's increasing interest in taking care of the advanced and terminal stages of nervous system diseases, thus encouraging research, training and updating in such direction. This document aims to underline the specific neurological requirements concerning the palliative assistance. PMID:26228722
Methodological innovations in public health education: transdisciplinary problem solving.
Lawlor, Edward F; Kreuter, Matthew W; Sebert-Kuhlmann, Anne K; McBride, Timothy D
In 2008, the faculty of the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis designed a Master of Public Health program centered on transdisciplinary problem solving in public health. We have described the rationale for our approach, guiding principles and pedagogy for the program, and specific transdisciplinary competencies students acquire. We have explained how transdisciplinary content has been organized and delivered, how the program is being evaluated, and how we have demonstrated the feasibility of this approach for a Master of Public Health degree. PMID:25706031
Moody, Karen; Siegel, Linda; Scharbach, Kathryn; Cunningham, Leslie; Cantor, Rabbi Mollie
Progress in pediatric palliative care has gained momentum, but there remain significant barriers to the appropriate provision of palliative care to ill and dying children, including the lack of properly trained health care professionals, resources to finance such care, and scientific research, as well as a continued cultural denial of death in children. This article reviews the epidemiology of pediatric palliative care, special communication concerns, decision making, ethical and legal considerations, symptom assessment and management, psychosocial issues, provision of care across settings, end-of-life care, and bereavement. Educational and supportive resources for health care practitioners and families, respectively, are included. PMID:21628042
Spirituality and Palliative Care
Broeckaert, Bert
This paper shows how palliative care developed as a reaction to the compartimentalized technical approach of modern medicine. But what does it mean if we say palliative care wants to treat patients as whole persons? A few pitfalls need to avoided. All disciplines involved in palliative care should act within the limits of their own specific professional role. Physicians and nurses should certainly not force patients into spiritual or religious discussions or practices. They should understand that religion and spirituality also influence the ethical (and thus medical) choices people make, respect their own conscience and worldview too and cultivate conscious compassion. PMID:21811369
Intent, Future, Anticipation: A Semiotic, Transdisciplinary Approach
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Loeckenhoff, Hellmut
Encouraged e.g. by chaos theory and (bio-)semiotics science is trying to attempt a deeper understanding of life. The paradigms of physics alone prove not sufficient to explain f. ex. evolution or phylogenesis and ontogenesis. In complement, research on life systems reassesses paradigmatic models not only for living systems and not only on the strict biological level. The ontological as well as the epistemological base of science in toto is to be reconsidered. Science itself proves a historical and cultural phenomenon and can be seen as shaped by evolution and semiosis. -Living systems are signified by purpose, intent and, necessarily, by the faculty to anticipate e.g. the cyclic changes of their environment. To understand the concepts behind a proposal is developed towards a model set constituting a transdisciplinary approach. It rests e.g. on concepts of systems, evolution, complexity and semiodynamics.
The web site of the center to advance palliative care.
Gavrin, Jonathan R
The web site of the Center to Advance Palliative Care is reviewed. This is an excellent resource containing resources that address financial tutorials and customizable Excel worksheets, development and marketing tools, particularly the decision checklists, satisfaction tools, the information on tracking and reporting outcomes, bereavement tools and a press kit. PMID:15760811
Bhatnagar, Sushma; Gupta, Mayank
A 'need-supply' and 'requirement-distribution mismatch' along with a continuingneed explosion are the biggest hurdles faced by palliative medicine today. It is the need of the hour to provide an unbiased, equitable and evidence-based palliative care to those in need irrespective of the diagnosis, prognosis, social and economic status or geographical location. Palliative care as a fundamental human right, ensuring provision throughout the illness spectrum, global as well as region-specific capacity building, uniform availability of essential drugs at an affordable price, a multidisciplinary team approachand caregiver-support are some of the achievable goals for the future. This supplanted with a strong political commitment, professional dedication and 'public-private partnerships' are necessaryto tackle the existing hurdles and the exponentially increasing future need. For effectively going ahead it is of utmost importance to integrate palliative medicine into medical education, healthcare system and societal framework. PMID:25709197
Palliative care - managing pain
End of life - pain management; Hospice - pain management ... Bookbinder M, McHugh ME. Symptom management in palliative care and end of life care. Nurs Clin North Am . 2010;45:271-327. Mercadente S. Challenging pain problems. In: ...
Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, and Transdisciplinary Collaboration: Implications for Vocational Psychology
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Collin, Audrey
The literature on interdisciplinarity identifies several forms of collaboration: multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and interdisciplinary (as bridge building or integration). To assist vocational psychology translate its interdisciplinary discourse into action, this paper uses that literature to identify the benefits, challenges and conditions…
'Good palliative care' orders.
Maddocks, I
A Select Committee of the Parliament of South Australia, considering revisions to legislation governing care of the dying, did not support allowing doctors to assist suicide. They recommended that no liability attach to the provision of reasonable palliative care which happens to shorten life. The Committee affirmed the suggestion that positive open orders to provide 'good palliative care' should replace 'do not resuscitate' orders. PMID:7506978
Transdisciplinary translational science and the case of preterm birth
Stevenson, D K; Shaw, G M; Wise, P H; Norton, M E; Druzin, M L; Valantine, H A; McFarland, D A
Medical researchers have called for new forms of translational science that can solve complex medical problems. Mainstream science has made complementary calls for heterogeneous teams of collaborators who conduct transdisciplinary research so as to solve complex social problems. Is transdisciplinary translational science what the medical community needs? What challenges must the medical community overcome to successfully implement this new form of translational science? This article makes several contributions. First, it clarifies the concept of transdisciplinary research and distinguishes it from other forms of collaboration. Second, it presents an example of a complex medical problem and a concrete effort to solve it through transdisciplinary collaboration: for example, the problem of preterm birth and the March of Dimes effort to form a transdisciplinary research center that synthesizes knowledge on it. The presentation of this example grounds discussion on new medical research models and reveals potential means by which they can be judged and evaluated. Third, this article identifies the challenges to forming transdisciplines and the practices that overcome them. Departments, universities and disciplines tend to form intellectual silos and adopt reductionist approaches. Forming a more integrated (or 'constructionist'), problem-based science reflective of transdisciplinary research requires the adoption of novel practices to overcome these obstacles. PMID:23079774
TREC to WHERE? Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer.
Schmitz, Kathryn H; Gehlert, Sarah; Patterson, Ruth E; Colditz, Graham A; Chavarro, Jorge E; Hu, Frank B; Neuhouser, Marian L; Sturgeon, Kathleen M; Thornquist, Mark; Tobias, Deirdre; Nebeling, Linda C
When information is exchanged across disciplinary boundaries, resources are shared, and discipline-specific approaches are altered to achieve a common scientific goal, we create a new intellectual space for transdisciplinary research. This approach, fostered heavily by multiple NCI-funded initiatives, has the potential to forge new understanding of major public health issues. By breaking down disciplinary barriers, we work toward making real, meaningful, and lasting forward motion in addressing key public health issues. One of the transdisciplinary initiatives of the NCI is TREC: Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer. In this article, we review the goals and scope of TREC, as well as the ways in which the initiative promotes transdisciplinary science. A particular focus is on multiple examples of the most unique aspect of the initiative: the funding of developmental projects across multiple TREC centers, toward the goal of incubating high-risk science that has the potential to translate into major leaps forward in understanding energetics in cancer. As we enter an era of greater focus on investigator-initiated science, new approaches may be needed to ensure that the peer review process is not solely organized along disciplinary lines. Inclusion of expertise regarding transdisciplinarity, as well as representation from multiple scientific disciplines within a panel, may allow transdisciplinary research to receive an educated hearing. The body of researchers trained to work in a transdisciplinary research space is ideally suited to address these challenges. PMID:26792261
Frequently Asked Questions (Palliative Care: Conversations Matter)
... Questions Frequently Asked Questions: What is pediatric palliative care? Pediatric palliative (pal-lee-uh-tiv) care is ... for patients and families. Who provides pediatric palliative care? Every palliative care team is different. The team ...
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Tyrrell, Sidney
In this brief article, the author instructs teachers on how to produce an interactive spreadsheet from scratch in about 20 minutes and en route equip themselves and their students, with handy "Excel" skills. The aim is to introduce the basics of "Excel," plus some fun bits, speedily and with a purpose; producing something that is useful in its own…
Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association
... How to Submit an Abstract Writing Educational Objectives Palliative Care APRN Fellowships HPNF Chapter Education Grants HPNF Individual ... HPNA Chapters Content Experts Position Statements Fellow in Palliative Care Nursing HPNF and Project on Death in America ...
Palliative Therapy for Gallbladder Cancer
... based on the extent of gallbladder cancer Palliative therapy for gallbladder cancer Palliative therapy is treatment given to help control or reduce ... to advance quickly, doctors try to use palliative therapies that are less likely to affect a person's ...
Grief and Palliative Care: Mutuality
Moon, Paul J
Grief and palliative care are interrelated and perhaps mutually inclusive. Conceptually and practically, grief intimately relates to palliative care, as both domains regard the phenomena of loss, suffering, and a desire for abatement of pain burden. Moreover, the notions of palliative care and grief may be construed as being mutually inclusive in terms of one cueing the other. As such, the discussions in this article will center on the conceptualizations of the mutuality between grief and palliative care related to end-of-life circumstances. Specifically, the complementarity of grief and palliative care, as well as a controvertible view thereof, will be considered. PMID:25278758
Palliative Care in Heart Failure.
Hupcey, Judith E; Kitko, Lisa; Alonso, Windy
The number of patients with heart failure is growing; the associated morbidity and mortality remains dismal. Advance care planning, end-of-life conversations, and palliative care referrals are appropriate, but do not occur regularly. Palliative care focuses on patients and families from diagnosis, to hospice, death, and bereavement. It is delivered as basic palliative care by all providers and by specialty-certified palliative care specialists. Nurses are well-positioned to provide basic. Nurses are also instrumental in initiating referrals to the specialized palliative care team as the patient's needs become too complex or the disease progresses and the patient approaches the end of life. PMID:26567500
Transdisciplinary Research and Evaluation for Community Health Initiatives
Harper, Gary W.; Neubauer, Leah C.; Bangi, Audrey K.; Francisco, Vincent T.
Transdisciplinary research and evaluation projects provide valuable opportunities to collaborate on interventions to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Given team members' diverse backgrounds and roles or responsibilities in such projects, members' perspectives are significant in strengthening a project's infrastructure and improving its organizational functioning. This article presents an evaluation mechanism that allows team members to express the successes and challenges incurred throughout their involvement in a multisite transdisciplinary research project. Furthermore, their feedback is used to promote future sustainability and growth. Guided by a framework known as organizational development, the evaluative process was conducted by a neutral entity, the Quality Assurance Team. A mixed-methods approach was utilized to garner feedback and clarify how the research project goals could be achieved more effectively and efficiently. The multiple benefits gained by those involved in this evaluation and implications for utilizing transdisciplinary research and evaluation teams for health initiatives are detailed. PMID:18936267
Preparing Emerging Doctoral Scholars for Transdisciplinary Research: A Developmental Approach
Kemp, Susan P.; Nurius, Paula S.
Research models that bridge disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological boundaries are increasingly common as funders and the public push for timely, effective, collaborative responses to pressing social and environmental problems. Although social work is inherently an integrative discipline, there is growing recognition of the need to better prepare emerging scholars for sophisticated transdisciplinary and translational research environments. This paper outlines a developmental, competency-oriented approach to enhancing the readiness of doctoral students and emerging scholars in social work and allied disciplines for transdisciplinary research, describes an array of pedagogical tools applicable in doctoral course work and other program elements, and urges coordinated attention to enhancing the field's transdisciplinary training capacity. PMID:26005286
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Barreto, Humberto
This article is not the usual Excel pedagogy fare in that it does not provide an application or example taught via a spreadsheet. Instead, it briefly reviews the history of spreadsheets in the economics classroom and explores the current environment, with an emphasis on modern learning theory. The conclusion is not surprising: spreadsheets improve…
Palliation: Hilar cholangiocarcinoma
Goenka, Mahesh Kr; Goenka, Usha
Hilar cholangiocarcinomas are common tumors of the bile duct that are often unresectable at presentation. Palliation, therefore, remains the goal in the majority of these patients. Palliative treatment is particularly indicated in the presence of cholangitis and pruritus but is often also offered for high-grade jaundice and abdominal pain. Endoscopic drainage by placing stents at endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) is usually the preferred modality of palliation. However, for advanced disease, percutaneous stenting has been shown to be superior to endoscopic stenting. Endosonography-guided biliary drainage is emerging as an alternative technique, particularly when ERCP is not possible or fails. Metal stents are usually preferred over plastic stents, both for ERCP and for percutaneous biliary drainage. There is no consensus as to whether it is necessary to place multiple stents within advanced hilar blocks or whether unilateral stenting would suffice. However, recent data have suggested that, contrary to previous belief, it is useful to drain more than 50% of the liver volume for favorable long-term results. In the presence of cholangitis, it is beneficial to drain all of the obstructed biliary segments. Surgical bypass plays a limited role in palliation and is offered primarily as a segment III bypass if, during a laparotomy for resection, the tumor is found to be unresectable. Photodynamic therapy and, more recently, radiofrequency ablation have been used as adjuvant therapies to improve the results of biliary stenting. The exact technique to be used for palliation is guided by the extent of the biliary involvement (Bismuth class) and the availability of local expertise. PMID:25232449
Languages and Education in Africa a Comparative and Transdisciplinary Analysis
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Brock-Utne, Birgit, Ed.; Skattum, Ingse, Ed.
The theme of this book cuts across disciplines. Contributors to this volume are specialized in education and especially classroom research as well as in linguistics, most being transdisciplinary themselves. Around 65 sub-Saharan languages figure in this volume as research objects: as means of instruction, in connection with teacher training,…
Transdisciplinary Pedagogical Templates and Their Potential for Adaptive Reuse
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dobozy, Eva; Dalziel, James
This article explores the use and usefulness of carefully designed transdisciplinary pedagogical templates (TPTs) aligned to different learning theories. The TPTs are based on the Learning Design Framework outlined in the Larnaca Declaration (Dalziel et al. in this collection). The generation of pedagogical plans or templates is not new. However,…
Assessing the Validity of Discourse Analysis: Transdisciplinary Convergence
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jaipal-Jamani, Kamini
Research studies using discourse analysis approaches make claims about phenomena or issues based on interpretation of written or spoken text, which includes images and gestures. How are findings/interpretations from discourse analysis validated? This paper proposes transdisciplinary convergence as a way to validate discourse analysis approaches to…
Experiences of Early Transdisciplinary Teams in Pediatric Community Rehabilitation
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Aubin, Tamie; Mortenson, Patricia
Although a transdisciplinary approach (TA) is considered best practice for children aged 0-3 years, there is limited information for professionals on how to successfully implement TA services. Using qualitative inquiry, in-depth interviews were conducted to explore the experiences of 6 service providers and managers who took part in early…
A Pedagogy Changer: Transdisciplinary Faculty Self-Study
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Samaras, Anastasia P.
In this article, I examine pedagogical understandings as captured through documented critical incidents of a transdisciplinary faculty self-study group which was designed and grounded in notions of sociocultural theory. I report from my lens as facilitator-participant-observer and from my work with eleven other participants in a three-semester…
Transdisciplinary weed research: new leverage on challenging weed problems?
Technology Transfer Automated Retrieval System (TEKTRAN)
Transdisciplinary Weed Research (TWR) is a promising path to more effective management of challenging weed problems. We define TWR as an integrated process of inquiry and action that addresses complex weed problems in the context of broader efforts to improve economic, environmental and social aspec...
Assessing Institutional Frameworks of Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research and Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Weiss, Gerhard; Steiner, Regina; Eckmullner, Otto
This paper presents a concept for analysing the bearing of institutional settings on inter- and transdisciplinary research and education for sustainable development and applies it to a concrete case example. It asks in how far the funding programme requirements and the institutional project arrangements impacted on the research process and project…
Facilitating Transdisciplinary Sustainable Development Research Teams through Online Collaboration
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dale, Ann; Newman, Lenore; Ling, Chris
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential of online communication technologies to facilitate university-led transdisciplinary sustainable development research and lower the ecological footprints of such research projects. A series of case studies is to be explored. Design/methodology/approach: A one year project is conducted…
Palliative care and pulmonary rehabilitation.
Janssen, Daisy J A; McCormick, James R
Numerous barriers exist to the timely introduction of palliative care in patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The complex needs of patients with advanced COPD require the integration of curative-restorative care and palliative care. Palliative care and pulmonary rehabilitation are both important components of integrated care for patients with chronic respiratory diseases. Pulmonary rehabilitation provides the opportunity to introduce palliative care by implementing education about advance care planning. Education about advance care planning addresses the information needs of patients and can be an effective strategy to promote patient-physician discussion about these issues. PMID:24874135
NCI's Transdisciplinary High Performance Scientific Data Platform
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Evans, Ben; Antony, Joseph; Bastrakova, Irina; Car, Nicholas; Cox, Simon; Druken, Kelsey; Evans, Bradley; Fraser, Ryan; Ip, Alex; Kemp, Carina; King, Edward; Minchin, Stuart; Larraondo, Pablo; Pugh, Tim; Richards, Clare; Santana, Fabiana; Smillie, Jon; Trenham, Claire; Wang, Jingbo; Wyborn, Lesley
The Australian National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) manages Earth Systems data collections sourced from several domains and organisations onto a single High Performance Data (HPD) Node to further Australia's national priority research and innovation agenda. The NCI HPD Node has rapidly established its value, currently managing over 10 PBytes of datasets from collections that span a wide range of disciplines including climate, weather, environment, geoscience, geophysics, water resources and social sciences. Importantly, in order to facilitate broad user uptake, maximise reuse and enable transdisciplinary access through software and standardised interfaces, the datasets, associated information systems and processes have been incorporated into the design and operation of a unified platform that NCI has called, the National Environmental Research Data Interoperability Platform (NERDIP). The key goal of the NERDIP is to regularise data access so that it is easily discoverable, interoperable for different domains and enabled for high performance methods. It adopts and implements international standards and data conventions, and promotes scientific integrity within a high performance computing and data analysis environment. NCI has established a rich and flexible computing environment to access to this data, through the NCI supercomputer; a private cloud that supports both domain focused virtual laboratories and in-common interactive analysis interfaces; as well as remotely through scalable data services. Data collections of this importance must be managed with careful consideration of both their current use and the needs of the end-communities, as well as its future potential use, such as transitioning to more advanced software and improved methods. It is therefore critical that the data platform is both well-managed and trusted for stable production use (including transparency and reproducibility), agile enough to incorporate new technological advances and
Palliative Care in Enugu, Nigeria: Challenges to a New Practice
Onyeka, Tonia C
Everyone, young and old, male and female, rich and poor, should have access to excellent care during the course of a serious illness and at the end of life. Therefore, a denial of such care becomes an infringement of the individual's human rights. Because of the efforts of pioneers in this field of Medicine in Africa and beyond, both living and immortalized, we can now say that palliative care in the African context is affordable and achievable. In this article, some of the challenges faced in setting up and running a new palliative care practice in an emerging and developing economy are examined. PMID:21976853
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tsoupikova, Daria
This paper describes the research and development of a virtual reality visualization project "Passing excellence" about the world famous architectural ensemble "Kizhi". The Kizhi Pogost is located on an island in Lake Onega in northern Karelia in Russia. It is an authentic museum of an ancient wood building tradition which presents a unique artistic achievement. This ensemble preserves a concentration of masterpieces of the Russian heritage and is included in the List of Most Endangered Sites of the World Monuments Watch protected by World Heritage List of UNESCO. The project strives to create a unique virtual observation of the dynamics of the architectural changes of the museum area beginning from the 15th Century up to the 21st Century. The visualization is being created to restore the original architecture of Kizhi island based on the detailed photographs, architectural and geometric measurements, textural data, video surveys and resources from the Kizhi State Open-Air Museum archives. The project is being developed using Electro, an application development environment for the tiled display high-resolution graphics visualization system and can be shown on the virtual reality systems such as the GeoWall TM and the C-Wall.
Innovative palliative care in Edmonton.
Fainsinger, R. L.; Bruera, E.; MacMillan, K.
PROBLEM BEING ADDRESSED: Access to palliative care in Edmonton has been hampered by uneven development, poor distribution of services, and more recently, economic restraints. Family physicians' involvement in palliative care has been hindered by the variety of access points, poor coordination, and inadequate reimbursement for time-consuming and difficult patient care situations. OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM: To provide high-quality palliative care throughout Edmonton in all settings, with patients able to move easily throughout the components of the program; to lower costs by having fewer palliative care patients die in acute care facilities; and to ensure that family physicians receive support to care for most patients at home or in palliative care units. MAIN COMPONENTS OF PROGRAM: The program includes a regional office, home care, and consultant teams. A specialized 14-bed palliative care unit provides acute care. Family physicians are the primary caregivers in the 56 palliative continuing care unit beds. CONCLUSIONS: This program appears to meet most of the need for palliative care in Edmonton. Family physicians, with support from consulting teams, have a central role. Evaluation is ongoing; an important issue is how best to support patients dying at home. Images p1984-a p1986-a PMID:9386885
Training Physicians in Palliative Care.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Muir, J. Cameron; Krammer, Lisa M.; von Gunten, Charles F.
Describes the elements of a program in hospice and palliative medicine that may serve as a model of an effective system of physician education. Topics for the palliative-care curriculum include hospice medicine, breaking bad news, pain management, the process of dying, and managing personal stress. (JOW)
Priority setting for new technologies in medicine: A transdisciplinary study
Gibson, Jennifer L; Martin, Douglas K; Singer, Peter A
Background Decision makers in health care organizations struggle with how to set priorities for new technologies in medicine. Traditional approaches to priority setting for new technologies in medicine are insufficient and there is no widely accepted model that can guide decision makers. Discussion Daniels and Sabin have developed an ethically based account about how priority setting decisions should be made. We have developed an empirically based account of how priority setting decisions are made. In this paper, we integrate these two accounts into a transdisciplinary model of priority setting for new technologies in medicine that is both ethically and empirically based. Summary We have developed a transdisciplinary model of priority setting that provides guidance to decision makers that they can operationalize to help address priority setting problems in their institution. PMID:12126482
Transdisciplinary translational behavioral (TDTB) research: opportunities, barriers, and innovations.
Czajkowski, Susan M; Lynch, Minda R; Hall, Kara L; Stipelman, Brooke A; Haverkos, Lynne; Perl, Harold; Scott, Marcia S; Shirley, Mariela C
The translation of basic behavioral science discoveries into practical strategies represents a promising approach to developing more effective preventive interventions to improve health. Since translational research inevitably involves making use of diverse perspectives from multiple disciplines, it is best conducted as a transdisciplinary enterprise. In this paper, we discuss current strategies used by NIH to support transdisciplinary translational behavioral (TDTB) research, summarize successful efforts, and highlight challenges encountered in conducting such work (ranging from conceptual to organizational to methodological). Using examples from NIH-funded projects we illustrate the potential benefits of, and barriers to, pursuing this type of research and discuss next steps and potential future directions for NIH-supported TDTB research. PMID:27012251
Perceived discontinuities and continuities in transdisciplinary scientific working groups.
Crowston, Kevin; Specht, Alison; Hoover, Carol; Chudoba, Katherine M; Watson-Manheim, Mary Beth
We examine the DataONE (Data Observation Network for Earth) project, a transdisciplinary organization tasked with creating a cyberinfrastructure platform to ensure preservation of and access to environmental science and biological science data. Its objective was a difficult one to achieve, requiring innovative solutions. The DataONE project used a working group structure to organize its members. We use organizational discontinuity theory as our lens to understand the factors associated with success in such projects. Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from DataONE members, we offer recommendations for the use of working groups in transdisciplinary synthesis. Recommendations include welcome diverse opinions and world views, establish shared communication practices, schedule periodic synchronous face-to-face meetings, and ensure the active participation of bridge builders or knowledge brokers such as librarians who know how to ask questions about disciplines not their own. PMID:25957788
Sustainable malaria control: transdisciplinary approaches for translational applications
With the adoption of the Global Malaria Action Plan, several countries are moving from malaria control towards elimination and eradication. However, the sustainability of some of the approaches taken may be questionable. Here, an overview of malaria control and elimination strategies is provided and the sustainability of each in context of vector- and parasite control is assessed. From this, it can be concluded that transdisciplinary approaches are essential for sustained malaria control and elimination in malaria-endemic communities. PMID:23268712
Improving Palliative Cancer Care.
Del Ferraro, Catherine; Ferrell, Betty; Van Zyl, Carin; Freeman, Bonnie; Klein, Linda
Over a decade ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) presented Ensuring Quality Cancer Care in the United States, with recommendations for change (IOM, 1999). However, barriers to integrating palliative care (PC) to achieve high-quality care in cancer still remain. As novel therapeutic agents evolve, patients are living longer, and advanced cancer is now considered a chronic illness. In addition to complex symptom concerns, patients and family caregivers are burdened with psychological, social, and spiritual distress. Furthermore, data show that PC continues to be underutilized and inaccessible, and current innovative models of integrating PC into standard cancer care lack uniformity. The aim of this article is to address the existing barriers in implementing PC into our cancer care delivery system and discuss how the oncology advanced practice nurse plays an essential role in providing high-quality cancer care. We also review the IOM recommendations; highlight the work done by the National Consensus Project in promoting quality PC; and discuss a National Cancer Institute-funded program project currently conducted at a National Comprehensive Cancer Center, "Palliative Care for Quality of Life and Symptoms Concerns in Lung Cancer," which serves as a model to promote high-quality care for patients and their families. PMID:26114013
Integrating Palliative Care into Primary Care.
Gorman, Rosemary D
Improved quality of life, care consistent with patient goals of care, and decreased health care spending are benefits of palliative care. Palliative care is appropriate for anyone with a serious illness. Advances in technology and pharmaceuticals have resulted in increasing numbers of seriously ill individuals, many with a high symptom burden. The numbers of individuals who could benefit from palliative care far outweighs the number of palliative care specialists. To integrate palliative care into primary care it is essential that resources are available to improve generalist palliative care skills, identify appropriate patients and refer complex patients to specialist palliative care providers. PMID:27497014
Team networking in palliative care.
Spruyt, Odette
"If you want to travel quickly, go alone. But if you want to travel far, you must go together". African proverb. The delivery of palliative care is often complex and always involves a group of people, the team, gathered around the patient and those who are close to them. Effective communication and functional responsive systems of care are essential if palliative care is to be delivered in a timely and competent way. Creating and fostering an effective team is one of the greatest challenges for providers of palliative care. Teams are organic and can be life giving or life sapping for their members. PMID:21811361
[Palliative care for glioblastoma].
Dieudonné, Nathalie; De Micheli, Rita; Hottinger, Andreas
Patients with glioblastoma have a limited life expectancy and an impaired quality of life and they should be offered palliative care soon after the diagnosis is established. Still, only a quarter of patients aged over 65 return home or medical institution after completing treatments. Home care must be promoted by coordinating assistance and care, combining disciplines such as physiotherapy and ergotherapy, medical and nursing care and psychosocial support. Patients are at risk of mood, personality and behavioural disorders. Limited awareness of these troubles and their physical limitations alter their capacity of rehabilitation and social relationships. Isolation of relatives, exhaustion and misunderstandings should be prevented. The therapeutic goals should be discussed and determined upstream to anticipate difficulties and questions concerning end of life. PMID:27281945
Palliative care - shortness of breath
... to control shortness of breath: Call your doctor, palliative care team, or hospice nurse for advice Call 911 ... Bicanovsky L. Comfort care: symptom control in the dying. In: Walsh ... . 1st ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2008:chap 181.
Spirituality in geriatric palliative care.
Puchalski, Christina M
This article presents an overview of spirituality as an essential domain of geriatrics palliative care, and provides guidelines for clinicians to diagnose spiritual distress and to integrate spirituality into their clinical practice. PMID:25920059
Center to Advance Palliative Care
... Learn More Overview Palliative in Practice Blog Report Card getpalliativecare.org Topics Topics of Interest CAPC ensures ... and Families Payer-Provider PCLC Pediatric Policy Report Card Seminar Membership Membership CAPC makes sure you never ...
The growth of palliative care.
Strand, Jacob J; Mansel, J Keith; Swetz, Keith M
Palliative care specialists focus on meeting the needs of patients with serious and/or life-threatening illnesses. These physicians have expertise in managing complex pain and nonpain symptoms, providing psychosocial and spiritual support to patients and their families, and communicating about complex topics and advance care planning. The American Board of Medical Specialties has allowed 10 of its member boards to co-sponsor certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Thus, physicians from specialties ranging from pediatrics to surgery now practice hospice and palliative medicine. At the core of this field, however, are physicians who trained as internists and are boarded by the American Board of Internal Medicine. This article discusses the central principles of palliative care and explores its growth in two areas: oncology and critical care medicine. PMID:25029799
Posthumous Reproduction and Palliative Care
Quinn, Gwendolyn; Bower, Bethanne; Zoloth, Laurie
Abstract Posthumous reproduction is an issue fraught with legal, ethical, religious, and moral debate. The involvement of the hospice and palliative care community in this debate may be peripheral due to the fact that other health care professionals would be actually delivering the services. However, the hospice and palliative care community are more likely to treat patients considering posthumous reproduction as they near the end of their lives. This article provides the hospice and palliative care community with a review of the medical, ethical, and legal considerations associated with posthumous reproduction. Having knowledge of these issues, and a list of available resources, will be useful if hospice and palliative care staff find themselves facing a patient or family that is considering posthumous reproduction. PMID:21711126
Undertaking Individual Transdisciplinary PhD Research for Sustainable Development: Case Studies from South Africa
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
van Breda, John; Musango, Josephine; Brent, Alan
Purpose: This paper aims to improve the understanding of individual transdisciplinary PhD research in a developing country context, focusing on three individual PhD case studies in South Africa. Design/Methodology/Approach: Multiple-case method was used, and three completed transdisciplinary PhD research efforts undertaken at the Stellenbosch…
Assessing the validity of discourse analysis: transdisciplinary convergence
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jaipal-Jamani, Kamini
Research studies using discourse analysis approaches make claims about phenomena or issues based on interpretation of written or spoken text, which includes images and gestures. How are findings/interpretations from discourse analysis validated? This paper proposes transdisciplinary convergence as a way to validate discourse analysis approaches to research. The argument is made that discourse analysis explicitly grounded in semiotics, systemic functional linguistics, and critical theory, offers a credible research methodology. The underlying assumptions, constructs, and techniques of analysis of these three theoretical disciplines can be drawn on to show convergence of data at multiple levels, validating interpretations from text analysis.
[Palliative care - also in geriatrics?].
Sandgathe Husebø, B; Husebø, S
Red Cross Clinic is the largest geriatric center in Norway (240 beds). Major parts of the center are: long time geriatric ward (215 beds), rehabilitation and acute ward (25 beds), day clinic (45 patients) and a teaching and research unit. A palliative care unit (10 beds) will be opened in spring 2000. In mai 1998 a national project: Palliative care for the elderly was opened at our center. The projects main goal is to develop and support proper palliative care to all severe ill and dying patients in Norway. In a prospective study we examined 179 consecutive deaths between 1998 and 1999. Average age was 84.5. Major symptom problems were pain, dyspnoea, death-rattle and anxiety. In the last 24 hours 83% of the patients received opioids, 67% of the cases morphine (mean daily dosage 31.8 mg). 37% of the patients received scopolamine (mean daily dosage 0.8 mg), 12% benzodiazepines and 3% of the patients haloperidol. 152 (85%) of the deaths were expected, 27 (15%) unexpected. In 137 patients (77%) open, honest, frank communication with patient or their nearest kin regarding the imminent death was possible. In our experience it is a myth that the relatives want doctors to practise "maximal therapy". All old patients in geriatric clinics and nursing homes need palliative care. We have found no international textbooks of geriatrics with chapters on palliative care or textbooks on palliative care with chapters on the elderly. They need doctors and nurses who are properly trained and educated in palliative care. In most countries in Europe this training and education is not provided. PMID:11810376
Taubert, Mark; Watts, Gareth; Boland, Jason; Radbruch, Lukas
The uses of social media have become ubiquitous in contemporary society at an astonishingly fast-paced rate. The internet and in particular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are now part of most people's vocabulary and are starting to replace many face-to-face interactions. The online world, in particular, is alive with discussions, comments and anecdotes about the topics of illness, disease, hospitals, death and dying. The topic of death and dying had in the not too distant past been seen as taboo, but willingness and need to talk openly about it appears to be on the increase. In parallel to this, many public awareness campaigns are highlighting society's need to be more prepared for dying and death. This will have a significant impact on the way terminally ill patients and their families approach the last years, months and weeks of their lives and how they might expect palliative health and social care professionals working with them through these difficult periods to interact with them. We pay particular attention to the areas of digital posterity creation and memorialisation within the wider holistic context of end-of-life care. PMID:24644766
Palliative Care: What You Should Know
... Palliative care is provided by a team of doctors, nurses, and other specialists who work together with a ... help you. 3 ? Ask for it! Tell your doctors, nurses, family and caregivers that you want palliative care. ...
Is Palliative Care Right for You?
... medical care Understanding the pros and cons (benefits/burdens) of treatments (e.g., dialysis, additional cancer treatments, ... the Media For Clinicians For Policymakers For Family Caregivers What Is Palliative Care Definition Pediatric Palliative Care ...
Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story
MedlinePlus Videos and Cool Tools
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Palliative care: an evolving field in medicine.
Eti, Serife
Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems: physical, psychosocial, and spiritual. This article discusses illness trajectories and prognostic estimates, prognostic tools, educating physicians and nurses in palliative care, research in palliative medicine, and palliative care in hospitals and the community. PMID:21628032
Benini, Franca; Spizzichino, Marco; Trapanotto, Manuela; Ferrante, Anna
The WHO defines pediatric palliative care as the active total care of the child's body, mind and spirit, which also involves giving support to the family. Its purpose is to improve the quality of life of young patients and their families, and in the vast majority of cases the home is the best place to provide such care, but for cultural, affective, educational and organizational reasons, pediatric patients rarely benefit from such an approach. In daily practice, it is clear that pediatric patients experience all the clinical, psychological, ethical and spiritual problems that severe, irreversible disease and death entail. The international literature indicates a prevalence of incurable disease annually affecting 10/10,000 young people from 0 to 19 years old, with an annual mortality rate of 1/10,000 young people from birth to 17 years old. The needs of this category of patients, recorded in investigations conducted in various parts of the world, reveal much the same picture despite geographical, cultural, organizational and social differences, particularly as concerns their wish to be treated at home and the demand for better communications between the professionals involved in their care and a greater availability of support services. Different patient care models have been tested in Italy and abroad, two of institutional type (with children staying in hospitals for treating acute disease or in pediatric hospices) and two based at home (the so-called home-based hospitalization and integrated home-based care programs). Professional expertise, training, research and organization provide the essential foundations for coping with a situation that is all too often underestimated and neglected. PMID:19490656
Rawlsian Justice and Palliative Care.
Knight, Carl; Albertsen, Andreas
Palliative care serves both as an integrated part of treatment and as a last effort to care for those we cannot cure. The extent to which palliative care should be provided and our reasons for doing so have been curiously overlooked in the debate about distributive justice in health and healthcare. We argue that one prominent approach, the Rawlsian approach developed by Norman Daniels, is unable to provide such reasons and such care. This is because of a central feature in Daniels' account, namely that care should be provided to restore people's opportunities. Daniels' view is both unable to provide pain relief to those who need it as a supplement to treatment and, without justice-based reasons to provide palliative care to those whose opportunities cannot be restored. We conclude that this makes Daniels' framework much less attractive. PMID:25689627
Palliative care in advanced dementia.
Merel, Susan E; Merel, Susan; DeMers, Shaune; Vig, Elizabeth
Because neurodegenerative dementias are progressive and ultimately fatal, a palliative approach focusing on comfort, quality of life, and family support can have benefits for patients, families, and the health system. Elements of a palliative approach include discussion of prognosis and goals of care, completion of advance directives, and a thoughtful approach to common complications of advanced dementia. Physicians caring for patients with dementia should formulate a plan for end-of-life care in partnership with patients, families, and caregivers, and be prepared to manage common symptoms at the end of life in dementia, including pain and delirium. PMID:25037291
Increasing sustainable stormwater management adaption through transdisciplinary research
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wingfield, Thea; Potter, Karen; Jones, Gareth; Spees, Jack; Macdonald, Neil
The Ribble Rivers Trust leads a partnership of land and water management organisations that use a holistic approach to water management in the Ribble catchment. They are interested in incorporating sustainable stormwater systems, into their program of delivery with a view to ensuring that their activities to improve the environments and habitats of the catchment also contribute to reducing flood risk. A methodology, to locate interventions that would slow water within the catchment are identified; however partner buy in, institutional caution and economic barriers are felt to be hindering delivery. In response a transdisciplinary research project in which both the academics of the University of Liverpool and the practitioners of The Ribble Rivers Trust are active investigators has been established. The project aims to increase the uptake of sustainable stormwater management techniques through the analysis of the institutional, experiential and governance processes and their interactions with the physical hydrological processes governing stormwater systems. Research that is transdisciplinary must integrate academic knowledge with practitioner, local understanding and practice. Furthermore methodologies belonging to different academic fields must be blended together to collect, analyse and interpret data in order to examine complex problems through different disciplinary lenses in an integrated way. This approach has been developed in response to the complex relationships of cause and effect of contemporary inter-related economic, environmental and societal challenges. There have been a number of challenges to overcome as transdisciplinary researchers, the first and most important was to understand the different research philosophies and theoretical assumptions behind various natural science and social science research methods. Without this understanding research methodologies could be flawed and would not be effectively integrated and the data would not be
Transdisciplinary holistic integrative psychiatry - a wishfull thinking or reality?
Jakovljević, Miro
Modern psychiatry in the last century proposed several aggregative biopsychosocial models as an opposition to prevailing fragmentary, reductionistic and dogmatic approaches. Although the biopsychosocial approach has become the mainstream concept of the present-day psychiatry, it is not fruitful enough because it is excessively broad and provides no real complex field integration and guidance to clinicians and researchers. The postmodern psychiatry alternatives have been appeared as pluralism and integrationism. Holistic and integrative approach in medicine and psychiatry is built on the premise that human beings in health and disease are complex systems of dinamically interacting biological, psychological, social, energetic, informational and spiritual processes. Emerging as a transdisciplinary holistic, complementary and integrative psychiatry implies widely accepted general systems theory on psychopathology, novel integrating interpretative models, new integrative understanding of etiopathogenesis or meanings of symptoms, and novel integrative assessment and treatment approaches addressing those etiopathogenesis and meanings. PMID:18827761
[Nutritional problems in palliative medicine].
Ollenschläger, G
Malnutrition is a frequent problem in the palliative care of the seriously ill and dying. Want of appetite and los of weight are direct symptoms of patients with consumptive infectional diseases (AIDS, TBC) as well as cancer or geriatric patients. Severe malnutrition significantly contributes to a loss of quality of life and increases morbidity of palliative patients. The subjective well-being of seriously ill patients is heavily influenced by want of appetite and loss of weight. Patients often find want of appetite and the incapability to eat as pressing as the physical impairment caused by the disease. Therefore the sole aim of palliative dietotherapy has to be to strengthen the general physical and mental condition of the patient. A specific training of home care staff and relatives of seriously ill patients in dealing sensitively with this problem of care is desirable. Above all, in-patient treatment of affected patients for the sole purpose of feeding has to be avoided. Aggressive dietotherapeutic interventions, especially artificial feeding, should be refrained from as far as possible in the terminal phase. Only if the prognosis of a patient in palliative treatment is improving contrary to expectations are strategies of curative dietotherapy valid. PMID:11048342
Hearing Loss in Palliative Care
Jain, Nelia; Wallhagen, Margaret L.
Abstract Background: Age-related hearing loss is remarkably common, affecting more than 60% of adults over the age of 75. Moreover, hearing loss has detrimental effects on quality of life and communication, outcomes that are central to palliative care. Despite its high prevalence, there is remarkably little written on the impact of hearing loss in the palliative care literature. Objective: The objective was to emphasize its importance and the need for further study. We use a case as a springboard for discussing what is known and unknown about the epidemiology, presentation, screening methodologies, and treatment strategies for age-related hearing loss in palliative care. Discussion: The case describes a 65-year-old man with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) that has progressed despite treatment. No concerns are raised about communication challenges during conversations between the palliative care team and the patient in his quiet room. However, in the midst of a family meeting, shortly after discussing prognosis, the patient reports that he cannot hear what anyone is saying. Conclusion: We describe simple methods of screening patients for hearing loss, and suggest that practical approaches should be used universally in patient encounters. These include facing the patient, pitching one's voice low, using a pocket talker, and creating a hearing-friendly environment when planning a family or group meeting. PMID:25867966
Selwyn, Peter A
As a physician working in palliative care, the author is often privileged to share special moments with patients and their families at the end of life. This haiku poem recalls one such moment in that precious space between life and death, as an elderly woman, surrounded by her adult daughters, takes her last breath. (PsycINFO Database Record PMID:27270255
Palliative Care: A Holistic Discipline.
Greer, Steven; Joseph, Marie
Although mind and body are inextricably interwoven, psychological factors have received insufficient attention within medicine. The biomedical model though necessary is not sufficient. In medicine and particularly in palliative care, a holistic biopsychosocial approach is required. A number of examples from clinical practice in a hospice setting are presented. PMID:26631259
Water management and trans-disciplinary research: what is the role for social sciences?
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Scolobig, Anna
The presentation will focus on trans-disciplinary research and science in water management. After describing thee pillars of the European research agenda in this sector, some results of projects claiming an inter- or trans-disciplinary vocation will be presented. The focus will be on the challenges related to the coproduction of knowledge between natural and social sciences, including the modelling of individual and community behaviours and the forecast of human response. Some preliminary ideas about the development stages of transdisciplinary research in water managmenent will be presented, with specific attention on the role of stakeholder engagement. The difficulties in connecting stakeholders' perspectives to models/scenarios and in turning stakeholders' discourses into numbers will be discussed. The conclusion will focus on the transformative changes that are needed to improve the integration between natural and social sciences in transdisciplinary research.
Transdisciplinary approaches to building the capacity of the public health workforce.
Taub, Alyson
The thesis of this article is that public health professionals working across disciplines can have a greater impact on the health of the public than they can working independently. A conceptual model, the HERP (Health Care Services, Education, Research, Policy) Transdisciplinary Model, is proposed to support the thesis. The model differentiates transdisciplinary approaches from multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and other similar efforts. Methods for strengthening the public health workforce through application of the transdisciplinary approach to research, professional education, and practice are discussed. The key roles played by epidemiological research, the cardiovascular disease (CVD) care team, and health education/health promotion in CVD prevention in developing countries are highlighted. CVD prevention in sub-Saharan Africa is used as an example in discussing the model and the transdisciplinary approach. PMID:13677413
Excellent Teachers' Perspectives on Excellent Teaching
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Keeley, Jared W.; Ismail, Emad; Buskist, William
Studies of master teaching have investigated a set of qualities that define excellent teaching. However, few studies have investigated master teachers' perspectives on excellent teaching and how it may differ from other faculty or students. The current study investigated award-winning teachers' (N = 50) ratings of the 28 qualities on the teacher…
Using routine data to improve palliative and end of life care
Davies, Joanna M; Gao, Wei; Sleeman, Katherine E; Lindsey, Katie; Murtagh, Fliss E; Teno, Joan M; Deliens, Luc; Wee, Bee; Higginson, Irene J; Verne, Julia
Palliative and end of life care is essential to healthcare systems worldwide, yet a minute proportion of research funding is spent on palliative and end of life care research. Routinely collected health and social care data provide an efficient and useful opportunity for evaluating and improving care for patients and families. There are excellent examples of routine data research in palliative and end of life care, but routine data resources are widely underutilised. We held four workshops on using routinely collected health and social care data in palliative and end of life care. Researchers presented studies from the UK, USA and Europe. The aim was to highlight valuable examples of work with routine data including work with death registries, hospital activity records, primary care data and specialist palliative care registers. This article disseminates that work, describes the benefits of routine data research and identifies major challenges for the future use of routine data, including; access to data, improving data linkage, and the need for more palliative and end of life care specific data. PMID:26928173
The Pedotopia Project: A Transdisciplinary Experiment in Soil Education
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Toland, A.; Wessolek, G.
In the absence of every-day interactions with the land, a hands-on, comprehensive soil education across disciplines and ages is necessary. Soil education is usually integrated into earth science and geography curricula and only rarely into social science, arts and humanities programs. Furthermore, an emphasis on measurement and modeling in conventional classroom science often neglects aesthetic, moral and other non-quantifiable values, precluding a broader cultural context in which soil education could take place. The arts play a vital role in communicating environmental issues to the greater public and represent a dynamic approach to help students discover soil complexity in new and unexpected ways. Artistic methods have recently been introduced as pedagogical tools in soil awareness-raising programs for children and youth. Painting with soil has become an interesting new approach to soil education from Kindergarten to University levels (SZLEZAK 2008). And a growing amount of literature describes artists who have undertaken different soil issues, suggesting that such artistic focus may improve wider understanding and appreciation of soil conservation issues (FELLER et al 2010, TOLAND & WESSOLEK 2010, WAGNER 2002). How can art contribute to soil science, policy and education - both with the aim of generating greater public understanding, but also by honing creative methods to confront problems such as contamination, erosion, and urban sprawl? What artistic approaches exist to protect and restore soils as well as our relationship to the land? And how can these approaches support current soil education goals? These questions were addressed in the transdisciplinary soil seminar, "Pedotopia - Re-sourcing Urban Soils" from September 2010 to September 2011 in Berlin. A cooperation between the Technical University of Berlin's Department of Soil Protection and the Berlin University of Arts' Institute for Art in Context, the project served as a teaching experiment as well
Smartphone applications in palliative homecare.
Dhiliwal, Sunil R; Salins, Naveen
Smartphone applications in healthcare delivery are a novel concept and is rapidly gaining ground in all fields of medicine. The modes of e-communications such as e-mail, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS) and WhatsApp in palliative care provides a means for quick tele-consultation, information sharing, cuts the waiting time and facilitates initiation of the treatment at the earliest. It also forms a means of communication with local general practitioner and local health care provider such that continuity of the care is maintained. It also minimizes needless transport of the patient to hospital, prevents needless hospitalization and investigations and minimizes cost and logistics involved in the care process. The two case studies provided highlights the use of smartphone application like WhatsApp in palliative care practice and demonstrates its utility. PMID:25709195
[Legal basics in palliative care].
Putz, Wolfgang
The German legal framework concerning end of life decisions is based on two pillars: the medical standards and the patient's autonomy. Every medical treatment, including life-saving and palliative measures, requires medical indication and, crucially, the patient's consent. Without the patient's consent even medically indicated treatment is prohibited.In other cases, complying with the patient's wishes, doctors have to treat symptoms the best they can. This includes palliative sedation accepting that the indicated medication may shorten life.It is prohibited to actively kill a patient to shorten his suffering. Assisting a suicide is only permitted if the suicide decision is made freely and on the patient's own responsibility. Businesslike suicide assistance is prohibited. PMID:26983108
Smartphone Applications in Palliative Homecare
Dhiliwal, Sunil R; Salins, Naveen
Smartphone applications in healthcare delivery are a novel concept and is rapidly gaining ground in all fields of medicine. The modes of e-communications such as e-mail, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS) and WhatsApp in palliative care provides a means for quick tele-consultation, information sharing, cuts the waiting time and facilitates initiation of the treatment at the earliest. It also forms a means of communication with local general practitioner and local health care provider such that continuity of the care is maintained. It also minimizes needless transport of the patient to hospital, prevents needless hospitalization and investigations and minimizes cost and logistics involved in the care process. The two case studies provided highlights the use of smartphone application like WhatsApp in palliative care practice and demonstrates its utility. PMID:25709195
[Malignant wounds in palliative care].
Fromantin, Isabelle; Rollot, Florence; Nicodeme, Marguerite; Kriegel, Iréne
In the alsence of effective cancer treatment, malignant wounds evolve. The decisions taken by the multi-disciplinary team with regard to their care vary depending on whether the patient is in the initial, advanced or terminal phase of palliative care. Modern dressings can be used to control bleeding, odours and drainage. The aim is to control the symptoms and improve the quality of life, until its end. PMID:26027186
Music therapy in palliative care.
Munro, S.; Mount, B.
Initial observations regarding the use of music therapy at one hospital in the palliative care of patients with advanced malignant disease are presented. In the hands of a trained music therapist, music has proven to be a potent tool for improving the quality of life. The diversity of its potential is particularly suited to the deversity of the challenges - physical, psychosocial and spiritual - that these patients present. Images FIG. 1 PMID:84704
Palliative Care: Video Tells a Mother's Story of Caring Support
... this page please turn JavaScript on. Feature: Palliative Care Video Tells a Mother's Story of Caring Support ... the treatment …" Frequently Asked Questions What is palliative care, and when is it provided? Palliative care combines ...
Palliative Care Doula: an innovative model.
Lentz, Judy C
Walking the journey of serious illness is very difficult and stressful for patients and families. A universal principle of palliative care is caring for the patient/ family unit. This article introduces a model for the Palliative Care Doula for experienced and advanced practice palliative care nurses to support patients and families during the traumatic and vulnerable period of end-of-life care. PMID:25296488
Palliative Care in Musculoskeletal Oncology.
Gulia, Ashish; Byregowda, Suman; Panda, Pankaj Kumar
Patients in advanced stages of illness trajectories with local and widespread musculoskeletal incurable malignancies, either treatment naive or having recurrence are referred to the palliative care clinic to relieve various disease-related symptoms and to improve the quality of life. Palliative care is a specialized medicine that offers treatment to the disease-specific symptoms, places emphasis on the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of life and help the patients and their family to cope with advance stage cancer in a stronger and reasonable way. The overall outcome of musculoskeletal malignancies has improved with the advent of multidisciplinary management. Even then these tumors do relapse and leads to organ failures and disease-specific deaths in children and young adults in productive age group thus requiring an integrated approach to improve the supportive/palliative care needs in end-stage disease. In this article, we would like to discuss the spectrum of presentation of advanced musculoskeletal malignancies, skeletal metastasis, and their management. PMID:27559251
Palliative Care in Musculoskeletal Oncology
Gulia, Ashish; Byregowda, Suman; Panda, Pankaj Kumar
Patients in advanced stages of illness trajectories with local and widespread musculoskeletal incurable malignancies, either treatment naive or having recurrence are referred to the palliative care clinic to relieve various disease-related symptoms and to improve the quality of life. Palliative care is a specialized medicine that offers treatment to the disease-specific symptoms, places emphasis on the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of life and help the patients and their family to cope with advance stage cancer in a stronger and reasonable way. The overall outcome of musculoskeletal malignancies has improved with the advent of multidisciplinary management. Even then these tumors do relapse and leads to organ failures and disease-specific deaths in children and young adults in productive age group thus requiring an integrated approach to improve the supportive/palliative care needs in end-stage disease. In this article, we would like to discuss the spectrum of presentation of advanced musculoskeletal malignancies, skeletal metastasis, and their management. PMID:27559251
[Complementary therapy in palliative medicine].
Hübner, J; Stoll, C
Even in the palliative context complementary therapy has a high value for patients and their relatives. In contrast to the methods of conventional medicine naturopathy as a holistic system has positive meanings for patients and their family. Complementary medicine in the palliative setting can be used as a supportive therapy in carefully selected cases. Doctors and patients should be careful regarding effect and side effects and should make sure that supportive therapy is given adequately and in effective doses. Complementary therapy should not be used in order to avoid the question of life and death. An adequate approach to the topic is mandatory, which acknowledges the needs of patients but also looks for their safety. Patients following alternative therapies sometimes neglect helpful therapeutic options. Carefully providing information on these therapies is mandatory. Physicians should avoid losing patients' confidence in their competence and attention in their final course of disease. Also in palliative medicine a sensitive approach to the topic of complementary medicine is mandatory, which accounts for the eligible wishes of patients and their relatives but puts the patients safety first. PMID:21181106
Palliative Care in Lung Cancer.
Shinde, Arvind M; Dashti, Azadeh
Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the USA. Symptom burden in patients with advanced lung cancer is very high and has a negative impact on their quality of life (QOL). Palliative care with its focus on the management of symptoms and addressing physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and existential suffering, as well as medically appropriate goal setting and open communication with patients and families, significantly adds to the quality of care received by advanced lung cancer patients. The Provisional Clinical Opinion (PCO) of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as well as the National Cancer Care Network's (NCCN) clinical practice guidelines recommends early integration of palliative care into routine cancer care. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of palliative care in lung cancer and will examine the evidence and recommendations with regard to a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to symptom management, as well as discussions of goals of care, advance care planning, and care preferences. PMID:27535397
Palliative Dental Care- A Boon for Debilitating
Chintamaneni, Raja Lakshmi; Mpv, Prabhat; Gummadapu, Sarat; Salvadhi, Shyam Sundar
World Health Organization defines "palliative care" as the active total care of patients whose disease is not responding to curative treatment. Palliative care actually deals with patients at the terminal end stage of the disease. We always face a question why a dentist should be in a palliative team? What is the exact role of dentist? Dental treatment may not always be strenuous and curative, but also can focus on improving quality of life of the patient. Hence forth the present paper enlightens the importance of dentist role in palliative team. PMID:25121074
Turkish healthcare professionals' views on palliative care.
Turgay, Gulay; Kav, Sultan
The concept of modern palliative care has been disseminating slowly in Turkey and has recently been included in the National Cancer Control Program. The aim of this study was to explore healthcare professionals' knowledge and views of palliative care. It was conducted at three hospitals with a sample of 369 healthcare professionals working in adult clinics. Data were collected via open-ended questions and 16 statements from healthcare professionals on their views of palliative care. Most respondents stated that there was a lack of in-service/continuing education in palliative care, and more than half said they had not received any education in palliative care. A majority stated that the meaning and goal of palliative care is "improving the quality of life of a patient who is in the terminal stage." Lack of awareness of palliative care and a lack of educational resources in that field are the most frequently reported barriers to the development of palliative care in Turkey. Palliative care should be included in curricula for healthcare professionals and in-service education programs should be established. PMID:23413762
Palliative dental care- a boon for debilitating.
Mulk, Bhavana Sujana; Chintamaneni, Raja Lakshmi; Mpv, Prabhat; Gummadapu, Sarat; Salvadhi, Shyam Sundar
World Health Organization defines "palliative care" as the active total care of patients whose disease is not responding to curative treatment. Palliative care actually deals with patients at the terminal end stage of the disease. We always face a question why a dentist should be in a palliative team? What is the exact role of dentist? Dental treatment may not always be strenuous and curative, but also can focus on improving quality of life of the patient. Hence forth the present paper enlightens the importance of dentist role in palliative team. PMID:25121074
Obesity and cancer: mechanistic insights from transdisciplinary studies.
Allott, Emma H; Hursting, Stephen D
Obesity is associated with a range of health outcomes that are of clinical and public health significance, including cancer. Herein, we summarize epidemiologic and preclinical evidence for an association between obesity and increased risk of breast and prostate cancer incidence and mortality. Moreover, we describe data from observational studies of weight change in humans and from calorie-restriction studies in mouse models that support a potential role for weight loss in counteracting tumor-promoting properties of obesity in breast and prostate cancers. Given that weight loss is challenging to achieve and maintain, we also consider evidence linking treatments for obesity-associated co-morbidities, including metformin, statins and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, with reduced breast and prostate cancer incidence and mortality. Finally, we highlight several challenges that should be considered when conducting epidemiologic and preclinical research in the area of obesity and cancer, including the measurement of obesity in population-based studies, the timing of obesity and weight change in relation to tumor latency and cancer diagnosis, and the heterogeneous nature of obesity and its associated co-morbidities. Given that obesity is a complex trait, comprised of behavioral, epidemiologic and molecular/metabolic factors, we argue that a transdisciplinary approach is the key to understanding the mechanisms linking obesity and cancer. As such, this review highlights the critical need to integrate evidence from both epidemiologic and preclinical studies to gain insight into both biologic and non-biologic mechanisms contributing to the obesity-cancer link. PMID:26373570
Bringing Excellence to Automotive
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Večeřa, Pavel; Paulová, Iveta
Market situation and development in recent years shows, that organization's ability to meet customer requirements is not enough. Successful organizations are able to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders. They are building their excellence systematically. Our contribution basically how the excellence in automotive is created using EFQM Excellence Model in Total Quality Management.
Excellence in Library Management.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Naulty, Deborah
By emulating traits of high-performing corporations such as those described in the book "In Search of Excellence," the library/information profession can also reach the goal of excellence. Attributes characterizing excellent companies include exhibiting a bias for action; maintaining quality service through closeness to the customer; encouraging…
Contextualizing neuro-collaborations: reflections on a transdisciplinary fMRI lie detection experiment
Littlefield, Melissa M.; Fitzgerald, Des; Knudsen, Kasper; Tonks, James; Dietz, Martin J.
Recent neuroscience initiatives (including the E.U.'s Human Brain Project and the U.S.'s BRAIN Initiative) have reinvigorated discussions about the possibilities for transdisciplinary collaboration between the neurosciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. As STS scholars have argued for decades, however, such inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations are potentially fraught with tensions between researchers. This essay build on such claims by arguing that the tensions of transdisciplinary research also exist within researchers' own experiences of working between disciplines - a phenomenon that we call "disciplinary double consciousness" (DDC). Building on previous work that has characterized similar spaces (and especially on the Critical Neuroscience literature), we argue that "neuro-collaborations" inevitably engage researchers in DDC - a phenomenon that allows us to explore the useful dissonance that researchers can experience when working between a "home" discipline and a secondary discipline. Our case study is a five-year research project in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) lie detection involving a transdisciplinary research team made up of social scientists, a neuroscientist, and a humanist. In addition to theorizing neuro-collaborations from the inside-out, this essay presents practical suggestions for developing transdisciplinary infrastructures that could support future neuro-collaborations. PMID:24744713
Contextualizing neuro-collaborations: reflections on a transdisciplinary fMRI lie detection experiment.
Littlefield, Melissa M; Fitzgerald, Des; Knudsen, Kasper; Tonks, James; Dietz, Martin J
Recent neuroscience initiatives (including the E.U.'s Human Brain Project and the U.S.'s BRAIN Initiative) have reinvigorated discussions about the possibilities for transdisciplinary collaboration between the neurosciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. As STS scholars have argued for decades, however, such inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations are potentially fraught with tensions between researchers. This essay build on such claims by arguing that the tensions of transdisciplinary research also exist within researchers' own experiences of working between disciplines - a phenomenon that we call "disciplinary double consciousness" (DDC). Building on previous work that has characterized similar spaces (and especially on the Critical Neuroscience literature), we argue that "neuro-collaborations" inevitably engage researchers in DDC - a phenomenon that allows us to explore the useful dissonance that researchers can experience when working between a "home" discipline and a secondary discipline. Our case study is a five-year research project in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) lie detection involving a transdisciplinary research team made up of social scientists, a neuroscientist, and a humanist. In addition to theorizing neuro-collaborations from the inside-out, this essay presents practical suggestions for developing transdisciplinary infrastructures that could support future neuro-collaborations. PMID:24744713
Ambivalence, equivocation and the politics of experimental knowledge: a transdisciplinary neuroscience encounter.
Fitzgerald, Des; Littlefield, Melissa M; Knudsen, Kasper J; Tonks, James; Dietz, Martin J
This article is about a transdisciplinary project between the social, human and life sciences, and the felt experiences of the researchers involved. 'Transdisciplinary' and 'interdisciplinary' research-modes have been the subject of much attention lately--especially as they cross boundaries between the social/humanistic and natural sciences. However, there has been less attention, from within science and technology studies, to what it is actually like to participate in such a research-space. This article contributes to that literature through an empirical reflection on the progress of one collaborative and transdisciplinary project: a novel experiment in neuroscientific lie detection, entangling science and technology studies, literary studies, sociology, anthropology, clinical psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Its central argument is twofold: (1) that, in addition to ideal-type tropes of transdisciplinary conciliation or integration, such projects may also be organized around some more subterranean logics of ambivalence, reserve and critique; (2) that an account of the mundane ressentiment of collaboration allows for a more careful attention to the awkward forms of 'experimental politics' that may flow through, and indeed propel, collaborative work more broadly. Building on these claims, the article concludes with a suggestion that such subterranean logics may be indissociable from some forms of collaboration, and it proposes an ethic of 'equivocal speech' as a way to live with and through these kinds of transdisciplinary experiences. PMID:25362830
Palliation of Dysphagia in Carcinoma Esophagus
Ramakrishnaiah, Vishnu Prasad Nelamangala; Malage, Somanath; Sreenath, G.S.; Kotlapati, Sudhakar; Cyriac, Sunu
Esophageal carcinoma has a special place in gastrointestinal carcinomas because it contains two main types, namely, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Carcinoma esophagus patients require some form of palliation because of locally advanced stage or distant metastasis, where it cannot be subjected to curable treatment with surgery and chemoradiation. Many modalities of palliation of dysphagia are available, but the procedure with least morbidity, mortality, and long-term palliation of dysphagia needs to be chosen for the patient. This study aims to discuss the recent trends in palliation of dysphagia with promising results and the most suitable therapy for palliation of dysphagia in a given patient. A total of 64 articles that were published between years 2005 and 2015 on various modes of palliation of dysphagia in carcinoma esophagus were studied, which were mainly randomized and prospective studies. Through this study, we conclude that stents are the first choice of therapy for palliation, which is safe and cost-effective, and they can be combined with either radiotherapy or chemotherapy for long-term palliation of dysphagia with good quality of life. Radiotherapy can be used as a second-line treatment modality. PMID:27279758
Integrating palliative care into comprehensive cancer care.
Abrahm, Janet L
While there are operational, financial, and workforce barriers to integrating oncology with palliative care, part of the problem lies in ourselves, not in our systems. First, there is oncologists' "learned helplessness" from years of practice without effective medications to manage symptoms or training in how to handle the tough communication challenges every oncologist faces. Unless they and the fellows they train have had the opportunity to work with a palliative care team, they are unlikely to be fully aware of what palliative care has to offer to their patients at the time of diagnosis, during active therapy, or after developing advanced disease, or may believe that, "I already do that." The second barrier to better integration is the compassion fatigue many oncologists develop from caring for so many years for patients who, despite the oncologists' best efforts, suffer and die. The cumulative grief oncologists experience may go unnamed and unacknowledged, contributing to this compassion fatigue and burnout, both of which inhibit the integration of oncology and palliative care. Solutions include training fellows and practicing oncologists in palliative care skills (eg, in symptom management, psychological disorders, communication), preventing and treating compassion fatigue, and enhancing collaboration with palliative care specialists in caring for patients with refractory distress at any stage of disease. As more oncologists develop these skills, process their grief, and recognize the breadth of additional expertise offered by their palliative care colleagues, palliative care will become integrated into comprehensive cancer care. PMID:23054873
Palliative care - fluid, food, and digestion
... J. Martin, MD, MPH, ABIM Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Atlanta, GA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Isla Ogilvie, PhD, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team. Related MedlinePlus Health Topics Palliative Care Browse the Encyclopedia A.D. ...
Palliative care in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Lilly, Evan J; Senderovich, Helen
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the only major worldwide cause of mortality that is currently increasing in prevalence. Furthermore, COPD is incurable, and the only therapy that has been shown to increase survival is oxygen therapy in selected patients. Compared to patients with cancer, patients with COPD experience similar levels of pain, breathlessness, fatigue, depression, and anxiety and have a worse quality of life but have comparatively little access to palliative care. When these patients do receive palliative care, they tend to be referred later than patients with cancer. Many disease, patient-, and provider-related factors contribute to this phenomenon, including COPD's unpredictable course, misperceptions of palliative care among patients and physicians, and lack of advance care planning discussions outside of crisis situations. A new paradigm for palliative care would introduce palliative treatments alongside, rather than at the exclusion of disease-modifying interventions. This integrated approach would circumvent the issue of difficult prognostication in COPD, as any patient would receive individualized palliative interventions from the time of diagnosis. These points will be covered in this review, which discusses the challenges in providing palliative care to COPD patients, the strategies to mitigate the challenges, management of common symptoms, and the evidence for integrated palliative care models as well as some suggestions for future development. PMID:27481751
Surgical palliative care in Haiti.
Huffman, Joan L
Palliative care in itself has many challenges; these challenges are compounded exponentially when placed in the setting of a mass casualty event, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Haiti itself was an austere environment with very little infrastructure before the disaster. US surgeons, intensivists, and nurses worked hand in hand with other international providers and Haitian volunteers to provide the best care for the many. Improvisation and teamwork as well as respect for the Haitian caregivers were crucial to their successes. Sisyphean trials lie ahead. Haiti and its people must not be forgotten. PMID:21419263
Endoscopic palliation of tracheobronchial malignancies.
Hetzel, M R; Smith, S G
The prognosis for tracheobronchial tumours remains poor. Most patients can be offered only palliation. When the main symptom is breathlessness or refractory haemoptysis from a large airway tumour endoscopic treatment may be very effective. Over the last decade most attention has focused on the neodymium YAG laser. This often produces dramatic effects but has some important limitations. In the last few years better techniques for stenting and intrabronchial radiotherapy (brachytherapy) have also been developed. This article discusses the range of techniques now available and aims to help clinicians decide which patients may benefit from referral to centres providing these techniques. Images PMID:1712516
Current trends in palliative heart care.
Shi, Rongyun
Palliative care is an alternate therapeutic approach that involves specialised medical care of a patient diagnosed with serious life threatening illness like heart failure (HF). The prime aim of the palliative care is to provide patient with relief from the symptoms, pain, physical stress, and mental stress of the diagnosed disease. The palliative care helps in improving the quality of life for both the patient and the family. Advanced HF is a disease process that carries a high burden of symptoms, suffering, and death. Palliative care can complement traditional care to improve symptom amelioration, patient-caregiver communication, emotional support, and medical decision making. The present review summarized all the available on alternative palliative approaches provided to heart patient by a team of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals. PMID:25926080
The politics of relative deprivation: A transdisciplinary social justice perspective.
Fu, Mengzhu; Exeter, Daniel J; Anderson, Anneka
Relative deprivation was defined by Townsend (1987, p. 125) as "a state of observable and demonstrable disadvantage, relative to the local community or the wider society or nation to which an individual, family or group belongs". This definition is widely used within social and health sciences to identify, measure, and explain forms of inequality in human societies based on material and social conditions. From a multi-disciplinary social science perspective, we conducted a systematic literature review of published material in English through online database searches and books since 1966. We review the concept and measurement of relative 'deprivation' focussing on area-based deprivation in relation to inequities in health and social outcomes. This paper presents a perspective based in Aotearoa/New Zealand where colonisation has shaped the contours of racialised health inequities and current applications and understandings of 'deprivation'. We provide a critique of Townsend's concept of deprivation and area-based deprivation through a critical, structural analysis and suggest alternatives to give social justice a better chance. Deprivation measures used without critical reflection can lead to deficit framing of populations and maintain current inequities in health and social outcomes. We contend therefore that the lack of consideration of (bio)power, privilege, epistemology and (bio)politics is a central concern in studies of deprivation. Our review highlights the need for the academy to balance the asymmetry between qualitative and quantitative studies of deprivation through trans-disciplinary approaches to understanding deprivation, and subsequently, social and health inequities. We recommend that deprivation research needs be critically applied through a decolonising lens to avoid deficit framing and suggest that there is space for a tool that focuses on measuring the unequal distribution of power and privilege in populations. PMID:25547207
Towards Global Transdisciplinary Research: Lessons Learned from the Belmont Forum
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Paillard, S. J.; Uhle, M. E.; van Jaarsveld, A. S.; Monfray, P.
The Belmont Forum was initiated in 2009 by a sub group of the International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research. The Belmont Challenge embodies the Forum's central goal: to deliver knowledge needed for societies to take action to mitigate and adapt to detrimental environmental change. This is fostered through collaboration among scientists across the globe and by stressing the importance of co-production of knowledge associated with coupled natural and social systems. The Belmont Challenge was clearly aligned with other collective thinking processes within the research community and key knowledge users from intergovernmental bodies. Convergence of these efforts gave rise to the S&T Alliance for Global Sustainability and its initiative - Future Earth. Collaborative Research Actions, consisting primarily of multilateral research calls to address topics relevant to Future Earth, have been the main tool developed to address the Belmont Challenge and some early lessons emerged. First, obstacles faced by the Belmont Forum are similar to those met by scientists collaborating across traditional boundaries. Building shared languages and interests between various disciplines and across global cultures, remains difficult; this results in a persistent underestimation of the transformation required to move knowledge creation towards a truly global inter- and transdisciplinary science. Second, the diversity of organizations, cultures and practices within the Belmont Forum is the main source of its creativity and its challenges. While some convergence is needed to build coherent strategies and work efficiently together, diversity is necessary to design actions suitable for all partners regardless of their national research system and science-policy priorities. Finding the right trade-offs is a learning process that Future Earth is also facing; thus both initiatives are not only linked through funding relations but also through strongly intertwined learning curves.
[Palliative Radiotherapy for Bone Metastases].
Nagakura, Hisayasu
Bone metastasis is associated with many symptoms such as bone pain, pathological fracture, and spinal cord compression. Especially, pain secondary to bone metastases is a serious problem in many patients with metastatic cancer. Radiotherapy can provide remarkable pain relief, reduce the requirement for analgesic drugs, and prevent pathological fracture or spinal cord compression with few complications in most patients. Many randomized controlled trials have shown equivalent extent of pain relief between single-fraction and multiple-fraction regimens. Reirradiation of painful bone metastases is effective for palliation of pain in non-responders or patients with recurrent pain after an initial satisfactory response to a previous radiation therapy. Systemic administration of radioisotopes is an important palliative care option for painful multifocal bone metastases detected on nuclear imaging; however, the application of this option depends on the histologic features of the tumor and distribution of the metastases. Metastatic spinal cord compression is the most frequent oncologic emergency and necessitates timely and appropriate treatment. External beam radiotherapy is commonly used for the treatment of metastatic spinal cord compression. Surgical decompression and stabilization should be considered for metastatic spinal cord compression or pathological fracture in select patients. Postoperative radiotherapy should be administered to patients who have undergone surgical intervention for bone metastases. For patients at a high risk for oncologic emergency, optimal prophylactic management is highly recommended. PMID:26602393
Leading Others Toward Excellence.
Hupp, James R
This essay puts forth the proposition that academic program excellence does not arise by accident. Effective leadership is required. To support this proposition, the essay discusses the characteristics common to effective leaders. It then proceeds to use the example of a successful academic oral-maxillofacial surgery department and characteristics of its leader to provide evidence that excellence derives from effective leadership. PMID:26608145
Melding Excellence and Equity.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Bennett, David A.
This document examines the issues of educational excellence and equity. The Milwaukee Public School System, Wisconsin, is cited as an example of a desegregation program that both exceeded court requirements of equity and also made a substantial contribution to the goals of excellence in education. The school effectiveness movement, like…
"Excellence" in STEM Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Clark, Aaron C.
So what does it take to achieve excellence in STEM education? That is the title of the author's presentation delivered at International Technology and Engineering Educators Association's (ITEEA's) FTEE "Spirit of Excellence" Breakfast on March 16, 2012, in Long Beach, California. In preparation for this presentation, the author went back and read…
Palliative Care in Rural Minnesota: Findings from Stratis Health's Minnesota Rural Palliative Care Initiative.
McKinley, Deb; Shearer, Janelle; Weng, Karla
Palliative care, which involves managing symptoms, controlling pain and addressing stress caused by a chronic or terminal illness, has been shown to keep patients out of the hospital and allow them to stay home and live more comfortably with their illness. Typically, it is provided by an interdisciplinary team led by a physician trained in palliative medicine. Rural areas have not always had access to such specialists. Yet, today, rural health care organizations are finding ways to create palliative care programs that meet the needs of their chronically ill and aging populations. This article describes a six-year initiative led by Stratis Health to advance palliative care in rural Minnesota. It highlights the work of FirstLight Health System in Mora and describes Stratis Health's Rural Palliative Care Measurement Pilot Project, an effort to develop and test measures for evaluating rural palliative care programs. PMID:26897897
Undergraduate medical education in palliative medicine: the first step in promoting palliative care in Lebanon.
Naccache, Nicole; Abou Zeid, Hicham; Nasser Ayoub, Eliane; Antakly, Marie-Claire
Effective delivery of high-quality palliative care requires effective interprofessional team working by skilled healthcare professionals. Palliative care is therefore highly suitable for sowing the seeds of interprofessional team working in early professional undergraduate medical education. Integrating palliative medicine in undergraduate medical education curricula seems to be a must. In this review, we present as an example the Palliative and End-of-Life Care Curriculum (PEOLC) used in Canada for undergraduate medical education and underline the need for such a national curriculum in Lebanon. One must keep in mind that medical education does not stop at the end of the medical school, ongoing learning needs exist. Continuous medical education in palliative care should also be emphasized; the overall goal is promoting palliative medicine. Respecting and protecting human dignity is the right of every patient. PMID:19534074
Palliative care provision for people with intellectual disabilities: interviews with specialist palliative care professionals in London.
Tuffrey-Wijne, I; McEnhill, L; Curfs, L; Hollins, S
Growing numbers of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are in need of palliative care, but there is inequity of access to palliative care services for this group. This study investigates the issues and difficulties arising for palliative care staff in providing care for people with ID. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 palliative care professionals in London. Factors affecting palliative care provision for people with ID included social issues (home situation and family issues), emotional and cognitive issues (fear, patient understanding, communication, cooperation and capacity to consent), problems with assessment, and the impact on staff and other patients. An underlying theme was the need to take more time and to build trust. Despite the challenges, many palliative care staff managed the care of people with ID well. The importance of collaboration with carers and ID services is highlighted. Further studies are needed to investigate how widespread the problems are. PMID:17846089
Recognition of Teaching Excellence*
Piascik, Peggy; Medina, Melissa; Pittenger, Amy; Rose, Renee; Creekmore, Freddy; Soltis, Robert; Bouldin, Alicia; Schwarz, Lindsay; Scott, Steven
The 2008-2009 Task Force for the Recognition of Teaching Excellence was charged by the AACP Council of Faculties Leadership to examine teaching excellence by collecting best practices from colleges and schools of pharmacy, evaluating the literature to identify evidence-based criteria for excellent teaching, and recommending appropriate means to acknowledge and reward teaching excellence. This report defines teaching excellence and discusses a variety of ways to assess it, including student, alumni, peer, and self-assessment. The task force identifies important considerations that colleges and schools must address when establishing teaching recognition programs including the purpose, criteria, number and mix of awards, frequency, type of award, and method of nominating and determining awardees. The report concludes with recommendations for the academy to consider when establishing and revising teaching award programs. PMID:21301598
Health care interactional suffering in palliative care.
Beng, Tan Seng; Guan, Ng Chong; Jane, Lim Ee; Chin, Loh Ee
A secondary analysis of 2 qualitative studies was conducted to explore the experiences of suffering caused by interactions with health care providers in the hospital setting. Interview transcripts from 20 palliative care patients and 15 palliative care informal caregivers in University Malaya Medical Centre were thematically analyzed. The results of health care interactional suffering were associated with themes of attention, understanding, communication, competence, and limitation. These 5 themes may serve as a framework for the improvement in interaction skills of health care providers in palliative care. PMID:23689367
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Butts, Glenn C.
Excel is a powerful tool with a plethora of largely unused capabilities that can make the life of an engineer cognizant of them a great deal easier. This paper offers tips, tricks and techniques for better worksheets. Including the use of data validation, conditional formatting, subtotals, text formulas, custom functions and much more. It is assumed that the reader will have a cursory understanding of Excel so the basics will not be covered, if you get hung up try Excel's built in help menus, or a good book.
Transdisciplinary Case Studies as a Means of Sustainability Learning: Historical Framework and Theory
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Scholz, Roland W.; Lang, Daniel J.; Wiek, Arnim; Walter, Alexander I.; Stauffacher, Michael
Purpose: This paper aims at presenting the theoretical concepts of the transdisciplinary case study approach (TCS), which is a research and teaching approach developed and elaborated at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), as a means of transition support. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reveals the historical roots of case…
SLA for the 21st Century: Disciplinary Progress, Transdisciplinary Relevance, and the Bi/Multilingual Turn
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Ortega, Lourdes
The goals of this article are to appraise second language acquisition's (SLA) disciplinary progress over the last 15 years and to reflect on transdisciplinary relevance as the field has completed 40 years of existence and moves forward into the 21st century. I first identify four trends that demonstrate vibrant disciplinary progress in SLA. I then…
Exploring Teachers' Views on Learning and Teaching in the Context of a Trans-Disciplinary Curriculum
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Levin, Tamar; Nevo, Yael
This longitudinal case study of a single school examines changes in the educational beliefs of 10 elementary-school teachers who experienced a constructivist-based trans-disciplinary curriculum (CTC). After 3 years of experiencing a CTC, which emerges through theme-oriented and project-based learning, teachers' educational beliefs had changed to…
Implementing Evidence-Based Practice Education in Social Work: A Transdisciplinary Approach
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Bellamy, Jennifer L.; Mullen, Edward J.; Satterfield, Jason M.; Newhouse, Robin P.; Ferguson, Molly; Brownson, Ross C.; Spring, Bonnie
Evidence based practice (EBP) is reflected in social work publications, accreditation standards, research, and funding opportunities. However, implementing EBP in social work practice and education has proven challenging, highlighting the need for additional resources. This paper describes the Transdisciplinary Model of EBP, a model based on…
Using a Transdisciplinary Service Delivery Model to Increase Parental Involvement with Special Education Students
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cross, Robert J.
Too often special education services are provided in a piece-by-piece fashion with individual support staff members each scheduling service to the child once or twice a week. Travel time and case-load numbers prohibit getting significant service time and frequency to the student. The literature suggests that transdisciplinary service delivery is…
Looking to the Future: Producing Transdisciplinary Professionals for Leadership in Early Childhood Settings
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cartmel, Jennifer; Macfarlane, Kym; Nolan, Andrea
This paper reports on an Australian initiative "Developing and Sustaining Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Professionals," where academics and professionals shared knowledge, experience and research about transdisciplinary practice. The project aimed to develop an understanding of the strategies and skills…
A systems science perspective and transdisciplinary models for food and nutrition security
Hammond, Ross A.; Dubé, Laurette
We argue that food and nutrition security is driven by complex underlying systems and that both research and policy in this area would benefit from a systems approach. We present a framework for such an approach, examine key underlying systems, and identify transdisciplinary modeling tools that may prove especially useful. PMID:22826247
Plasticity as a Framing Concept Enabling Transdisciplinary Understanding and Research in Neuroscience and Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
García Carrasco, Joaquín; Hernández Serrano, María Jose; Martín García, Antonio Victor
This article examines the emerging literature on the need for a synergy between neuroscience and educational sciences, identifying several differences in approach and methods that hinder the connecting processes between these two disciplines. From this review a transdisciplinary framework is presented which is based on the systemic and lifelong…
Transdisciplinary Collaborations for Sustainability Education: Institutional and Intragroup Challenges and Opportunities
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Evans, Tina Lynn
This article takes as its point of departure the many converging crises of sustainability and the responsibility of higher education institutions and faculty members to participate in mitigating these crises to any extent possible. The author characterizes sustainability education as transdisciplinary praxis, explores the institutional and…
Implementing Transdisciplinary Services for Students with Multiple Handicaps: One District's Approach.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Carrol, M. Jane; And Others
A school district in Nanaimo, British Columbia (Canada) implemented a transdisciplinary team to provide services for students with multiple handicaps. The team comprises a special education teacher, speech/language pathologist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, and teacher aides. This paper describes team member roles and responsibilities,…
Sustainability Transdisciplinary Education Model: Interface of Arts, Science, and Community (STEM)
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Clark, Barbara; Button, Charles
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the components of a sustainability transdisciplinary education model (STEM), a contemporary approach linking art, science, and community, that were developed to provide university and K-12 students, and society at large shared learning opportunities. The goals and application of the STEM curriculum…
Challenges in Transdisciplinary, Integrated Projects: Reflections on the Case of Faculty Members' Failure to Collaborate
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Vanasupa, Linda; McCormick, Kathryn E.; Stefanco, Carolyn J.; Herter, Roberta J.; McDonald, Margot
In this article we describe the challenges of transdisciplinary teamwork involving four faculty members from dissimilar epistemological traditions in the process of developing a manuscript on the lessons learned in our teaching collaboration. Our difficulty originated in implicit mental models and assumptions that caused incongruence between our…
A Transdisciplinary Approach to Training: Preliminary Research Findings Based on a Case Analysis
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Bimpitsos, Christos; Petridou, Eugenia
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the benefits, barriers and challenges of the transdisciplinary approach to training, and to present findings of a case analysis. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on the research findings of an experimental training program for Greek local government managers co-funded by the European…
Creativity in Business/Business in Creativity: Transdisciplinary Curricula as an Enabling Strategy in Enterprise Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Penaluna, Andrew; Penaluna, Kathryn
Recent guidance for UK government policy makers has warned that HEIs face an uncertain future and has advocated transdisciplinary curricula. Earlier, in 2005, two other UK government papers highlighted the advantages of integrating design-related strategies into business environments and addressed the impact creativity could have on business…
A Framework for Training Transdisciplinary Scholars in Cancer Prevention and Control.
James, Aimee S; Gehlert, Sarah; Bowen, Deborah J; Colditz, Graham A
Traditionally, postdoctoral training programs largely have focused efforts within a single discipline or closely related fields. Yet, addressing the complex questions around cancer prevention and control increasingly requires the ability to work and communicate across disciplines in order to gain a perspective that encompasses the multilevel and multifaceted issues involved with this public health issue. To address this complexity, a transdisciplinary training program was implemented to cultivate the professional and scientific development of the postdoctoral fellows in Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine's Division of Public Health Sciences and NCI-funded centers (Community Networks Program Center and Transdisciplinary Research in Energetics in Cancer Center). Fellows are matched with primary mentors and assemble a multidisciplinary mentoring team. Structured programs support the transition of fellows from disciplinary trainees to independent transdisciplinary scholars and provide exposure to multiple disciplines. This article describes the training program, challenges encountered in implementation, solutions to those problems, and the metrics employed to evaluate the program's success. The goal of the program is to train emerging investigators in the conceptual bases, language, and practices that underlie a transdisciplinary perspective on cancer prevention and control research, to create an infrastructure for continued cross-discipline dialogue and collaboration, and to develop disseminable strategies for such training. PMID:25510368
Cruisin' the Information Superhighway: Using the Internet To Teach English in a Transdisciplinary Context.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Firek, Hilve; Purcell, Steve
This paper presents information on using the Internet (electronic mail, listservs, world wide web sites, and gopher servers) to teach English in a transdisciplinary context by linking subjects thematically. The paper discusses how the Internet allows students to compose for a real reason and for a real audience. It also discusses listservs and…
Dental Disease in Infants and Toddlers: A Transdisciplinary Health Concern and Approach
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Finn, Emanuel; Wolpin, Scott
This article describes the consequences of dental disease among children under age 3. "Early childhood carries" (ECC) is preventable but is still a major public health problem--especially in poor and medically underserved communities--due to lack of awareness about prevention. The authors explain that in transdisciplinary care, practitioners work…
A transdisciplinary approach for supporting the integration of ecosystem services into land and water management
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Fatt Siew, Tuck; Döll, Petra
Transdisciplinary approaches are useful for supporting integrated land and water management. However, the implementation of the approach in practice to facilitate the co-production of useable socio-hydrological (and -ecological) knowledge among scientists and stakeholders is challenging. It requires appropriate methods to bring individuals with diverse interests and needs together and to integrate their knowledge for generating shared perspectives/understanding, identifying common goals, and developing actionable management strategies. The approach and the methods need, particularly, to be adapted to the local political and socio-cultural conditions. To demonstrate how knowledge co-production and integration can be done in practice, we present a transdisciplinary approach which has been implemented and adapted for supporting land and water management that takes ecosystem services into account in an arid region in northwestern China. Our approach comprises three steps: (1) stakeholder analysis and interdisciplinary knowledge integration, (2) elicitation of perspectives of scientists and stakeholders, scenario development, and identification of management strategies, and (3) evaluation of knowledge integration and social learning. Our adapted approach has enabled interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral communication among scientists and stakeholders. Furthermore, the application of a combination of participatory methods, including actor modeling, Bayesian Network modeling, and participatory scenario development, has contributed to the integration of system, target, and transformation knowledge of involved stakeholders. The realization of identified management strategies is unknown because other important and representative decision makers have not been involved in the transdisciplinary research process. The contribution of our transdisciplinary approach to social learning still needs to be assessed.
Standardized research protocols enable transdisciplinary research of climate variation impacts in corn production systems
Technology Transfer Automated Retrieval System (TEKTRAN)
The important questions about agriculture, climate, and sustainability have become increasingly complex and require a coordinated, multi-faceted approach for developing new knowledge and understanding. A multi-state, transdisciplinary project was begun in 2011 to study the potential for both mitigat...
Growing Pains: Palliative Care Making Gains
An article about the growth of palliative care, a medical subspecialty that has been shown to improve patient outcomes such as symptom management, quality of life, and patient and family satisfaction with care.
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
... Getting Involved Communities Advanced Lung Disease Forum Psychiatry, Psychology, Mental Health Forum Social Work Forum SIG Instructions ... HPM Lecture Series Research Scholars Mentoring Scholarship About History Position Statements Access to Palliative Care and Hospice ...
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
... Strategic Planning for Hospice Hospice Policy and Advocacy Healthcare Reform and Innovation Inspirational Address Booking Policies Contact NHPCO ... Webinar Registration MP4 Recordings Pay for CE/CME Online Learning E-OL Courses Interdisciplinary Team Palliative Care ...
Training Advanced Practice Palliative Care Nurses.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sherman, Deborah Witt
Describes the role and responsibilities of advanced-practice nurses in palliative care and nursing's initiative in promoting high-quality care through the educational preparation of these nurses. (JOW)
Parents' perceptions of a pediatric palliative program.
Sheetz, M Joan; Bowman, Mary-Ann Sontag
Reports of family satisfaction with pediatric palliative care have been limited. This knowledge is critical for both program development and furthering understanding of needs. The purpose of this study was to assess parents' perceptions about whether a pediatric palliative care program was providing key elements of pediatric palliative care as described in the literature and to assess parental satisfaction with services. Data were collected from 65 parents, using a tool developed for the project, whose children died while receiving services from Rainbow Kids Palliative Care, a program of Primary Children's Medical Center, and the Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Respondents reported that the Rainbow Kids team had provided emotional support, helped with decision making and communication, and that their children's symptoms were managed. Furthermore, parent respondents expressed high levels of satisfaction with services from the Rainbow Kids team. PMID:22696532
Home Inotropes and Other Palliative Care.
Ginwalla, Mahazarin
Heart failure is a leading case of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and patients with advanced heart failure have limited options without any available cure. These options mainly include cardiac transplantation or mechanical circulatory support device implantation. Chronic home inotropes are an option in these patients for a variety of indications. This report discusses the use of chronic home inotropes in palliated heart failure patients and reviews the role of palliative care management in end-stage heart failure. PMID:27371519
Medical use of marijuana in palliative care.
Johannigman, Suzanne; Eschiti, Valerie
Marijuana has been documented to provide relief to patients in palliative care. However, healthcare providers should use caution when discussing medical marijuana use with patients. This article features a case study that reveals the complexity of medical marijuana use. For oncology nurses to offer high-quality care, examining the pros and cons of medical marijuana use in the palliative care setting is important. PMID:23899972
Consensus statement on palliative lung radiotherapy: third international consensus workshop on palliative radiotherapy and symptom control.
Rodrigues, George; Macbeth, Fergus; Burmeister, Bryan; Kelly, Karie-Lynn; Bezjak, Andrea; Langer, Corey; Hahn, Carol; Movsas, Benjamin
The purpose of this work is to disseminate a consensus statement on palliative radiotherapy (RT) of lung cancer created in conjunction with the Third International Lung Cancer Consensus Workshop. The palliative lung RT workshop committee agreed on 5 questions relating to (1) patient selection, (2) thoracic external-beam radiation therapy (XRT) fractionation, (3) endobronchial brachytherapy (EBB), (4) concurrent chemotherapy (CC), and (5) palliative endpoint definitions. A PubMed search for primary/cross-referenced practice guidelines, consensus statements, meta-analyses, and/or systematic reviews was conducted. Final consensus statements were created after review and discussion of the available evidence. The following summary statements reflect the consensus of the international working group. 1. Key factors involved in the decision to deliver palliative RT include performance status, tumor stage, pulmonary function, XRT volume, symptomatology, weight loss, and patient preference. 2. Palliative thoracic XRT is generally indicated for patients with stage IV disease with current/impending symptoms and for patients with stage III disease treated for palliative intent. 3. There is no evidence to routinely recommend EBB alone or in conjunction with other palliative maneuvers in the initial palliative management of endobronchial obstruction resulting from lung cancer. 4. There is currently no evidence to routinely recommend CC with palliative-intent RT. 5. Standard assessment of symptoms and health-related quality of life (QOL) using validated questionnaires should be carried out in palliative RT lung cancer trials. Despite an expanding literature, continued prospective randomized investigations to better define the role of XRT, EBB, and CC in the context of thoracic palliation of patients with lung cancer is needed. PMID:21729656
Nurturing transdisciplinary research - lessons from live experiments in prioritising and supporting novel risk science (Invited)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rees, J.; Armstrong, C.; Barclay, J.; Moores, A.; Whitaker, D.
The benefits of specialization over the last 150 years have meant that science has evolved within several distinct disciplines, such as physical, social or environmental. These have generated their own cultures, languages, agendas, institutions, measures of success and cohorts of suitably branded scientists. However, we increasingly see that society and the environment are exposed to many complex, interdependent and rapidly changing risks - not only from natural hazards, but also those associated with fast expanding and ageing populations, highly interconnected and interdependent economies, rapid climate change, and increasingly limited resources. Risks derived from such interacting drivers commonly generate non-linear effects or repercussions and future risks may be very different to those of today; significantly, they span many traditional science disciplines. We thus need to have a fresh look at transdisciplinary risk science, bring in novel ideas and new blood. But what are the best practical ways of sowing the seeds and fertilizing such approaches? The presentation describes novel practical steps to achieve this, all related to building and resourcing transdisciplinary research which incorporates natural hazard science within the UK over the last 5 years. These comprise instruments to prioritise science gaps and provide funding for transdisciplinary research by a) Academic research funders - the Research Councils UK (RCUK) Risk Research Network and current research programmes; b) Government and non-governmental research funders - the Living with Environmental Change Initiative, and the UK Flooding and coastal erosion risk management research strategy - and the UK Collaborative for Development Science sponsored Disasters Research Group; and c) Business funding - through integrated risk modelling for the insurance industry. Whilst young, all these initiatives are healthy and seek to build a portfolio of small scale initiatives that will breed success and develop
Sustainability Science as a Transdisciplinary Framework for Institutional Transformation at Unity College
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Mulkey, S. S.
Interdisciplinary programming in higher education is accepted as necessary for effective instructional delivery of complex environmental problems. Difficulties in sharing resources among disciplinary units and the need for students to sequentially access information from different disciplines limit the effectiveness of this approach. In contrast, transdisciplinary programming requires that the perspectives of various disciplines be simultaneously integrated in problem-focused pedagogy. Unity College, an environmental college in Maine, has recently adopted Sustainability Science (sensu U.S. National Academy of Science) as a framework for transdisciplinary pedagogy throughout all of its degree programs. Sustainability Science is a promising alternative framework that focuses on the dynamics of coupled human-natural systems and is defined by the problems that it addresses rather than by the disciplines it employs. Students are empowered to become brokers of knowledge, while faculty perform a curatorial role to provide students with networked resources generally external to the classroom. Although the transdisciplinary framework is effective for delivery of Sustainability Science in upper division and capstone courses, we propose this approach also for elements of our general education curriculum during the first two years of our baccalaureate programs. Classroom time is liberated for experiential student engagement and recitation. Our experience suggests that transdisciplinary programming can provide students with critical thinking skills and thus enhance the postgraduate value of their baccalaureate degree. We are coordinating the development of this distinctive curriculum delivery with a marketing program that will make Unity College accessible to a wider range of clientele. Our implementation of transdisciplinary programming will occur over a four-year period and requires explicit and fundamental change in essentially all aspects of College administration and
Transdisciplinary synthesis for ecosystem science, policy and management: The Australian experience.
Lynch, A J J; Thackway, R; Specht, A; Beggs, P J; Brisbane, S; Burns, E L; Byrne, M; Capon, S J; Casanova, M T; Clarke, P A; Davies, J M; Dovers, S; Dwyer, R G; Ens, E; Fisher, D O; Flanigan, M; Garnier, E; Guru, S M; Kilminster, K; Locke, J; Mac Nally, R; McMahon, K M; Mitchell, P J; Pierson, J C; Rodgers, E M; Russell-Smith, J; Udy, J; Waycott, M
Mitigating the environmental effects of global population growth, climatic change and increasing socio-ecological complexity is a daunting challenge. To tackle this requires synthesis: the integration of disparate information to generate novel insights from heterogeneous, complex situations where there are diverse perspectives. Since 1995, a structured approach to inter-, multi- and trans-disciplinary(1) collaboration around big science questions has been supported through synthesis centres around the world. These centres are finding an expanding role due to ever-accumulating data and the need for more and better opportunities to develop transdisciplinary and holistic approaches to solve real-world problems. The Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS
[The perspectives on palliative nursing education].
Hu, Wen-Yu; Yeh, Mei Chang
The numbers of people who suffer from age-related and chronic diseases have been increased worldwide. This has lead to an increased emphasis in the medical community on end of life care. This paper references the processes followed overseas in developing palliative care education programs as well as the domestic experiences promoting the hospitalization, home care, and "share care" models of palliative care. Particular emphasis is given to considerations of cultural diversity in palliative care. The aim of this paper is to elaborate on the prevalent clinical end-of-life care issues that are faced in Taiwan, to cultivate core capabilities in end-of-life care, to elicit the current status and development of formal nursing education, and to promote continuing education in palliative care. Kern formulated a six-step approach to curriculum development in education and the details has been discussed . Finally, this paper reflects on the current bottlenecks, challenges, and expectations related to palliative care curriculum development in order to help medical professionals further put humanistic and social care into practice, increase ethical reflection in end of life care and nursing competency, and encourage the creation of localized textbooks / multimedia e-teaching materials. The fostering of "patient-centered, family unit and the social-cultural contexture" for palliative care professionals and the ability to respond to the needs of terminal patients and patients with chronic diseases are critical to increasing the quality of Taiwan healthcare. PMID:25854945
Palliative care reimagined: a needed shift.
Abel, Julian; Kellehear, Allan
Palliative care, since its inception over 60 years ago, has set the standard of how to care for people who are dying. Key features among these standards have been the professional development of clinical specialisms such as palliative medicine and palliative nursing; the essential addition of the multidisciplinary team to these two new specialisms that included social, spiritual and allied health workers-an outgrowth of the recognition that routine work with the dying, their carers, and the bereaved required more than solely clinical skills; and the unique partnership with communities that yielded the volunteer movement within palliative care. Professional, evidence-based symptom management and the importance of supportive care in its widest possible sense were and remain the cornerstones of the modern palliative care approach. However, the majority of people with terminal illnesses do not have access to palliative care teams, whose main focus of care remains patients with cancer. In the context outlined above this paper therefore poses two key questions: how can we provide an equitable level of care for all people irrespective of diagnosis and how can we increase the range and quality of non-medical/nursing supportive care in a context of diminishing resources? We argue that an important opportunity and solution can be found by adopting the principles of a public health approach to end-of-life care. PMID:26832803
Developing and managing transdisciplinary and transformative research on the coastal dynamics of sea level rise: Experiences and lessons learned
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
DeLorme, Denise E.; Kidwell, David; Hagen, Scott C.; Stephens, Sonia H.
There is increasing emphasis from funding agencies on transdisciplinary approaches to integrate science and end-users. However, transdisciplinary research can be laborious and costly and knowledge of effective collaborative processes in these endeavors is incomplete. More guidance grounded in actual project experiences is needed. Thus, this article describes and examines the collaborative process of the
78 FR 53152 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request: Palliative Care: Conversations Matter Evaluation
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
... HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request: Palliative Care... requested in writing. Proposed Collection: Palliative Care: Conversations Matter Evaluation, -0925-New... Information Collection: NINR developed Palliative Care: Conversations Matter, a pediatric palliative...
78 FR 35942 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request: Palliative Care: Conversations Matter Evaluation
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
... HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health Proposed Collection; Comment Request: Palliative Care.... Proposed Collection Palliative Care: Conversations Matter Evaluation -0925--New--National Institute of... developed Palliative Care: Conversations Matter, a pediatric palliative care campaign to address...
Palliative care and psychosocial contributions in the ICU.
Loscalzo, Matthew J
Psychosocial domains and palliative care medicine are the connective tissue of our fragmented health care system. The psychosocial domains of palliative care are central to creating new partnerships with physicians, patients, and their caregivers in emotionally charged medical environments, especially Intensive Care Units. Managing the psychological, social, emotional, spiritual, practical and existential reactions of patients and their loved ones supports effective action and problem-solving. Practical aspects to establishing realistic goals of care among the health care team and other specialists, communicating effectively with patients and families in crisis, using the diverse and ambiguous emotional responses of patients, families, faculty and staff therapeutically, and helping to create meaning in the experience is essential to whole-patient and family care centered. The family conference is an excellent vehicle to create an environment of honest and open communication focused on mobilizing the resources of the patient, family and health care team toward a mutually agreed upon plan of action resulting in clearly defined goals of care. PMID:19074130
Enhancing Palliative Care Education in Medical School Curricula: Implementation of the Palliative Education Assessment Tool.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Wood, Emily B.; Meekin, Sharon Abele; Fins, Joseph J.; Fleischman, Alan R.
Evaluated a project to catalyze New York State medical schools to develop and implement strategic plans for curricular change to enhance palliative care education. Found that the project's process of self-assessment and curriculum mapping with the Palliative Education Assessment Tool, along with strategic planning for change, appears to have…
Palliative Care in Advanced Lung Disease: The Challenge of Integrating Palliation Into Everyday Care.
Rocker, Graeme M; Simpson, A Catherine; Horton, Robert
The tendency toward "either/or" thinking (either cure or comfort) in traditional biomedical care paradigms does little to optimize care in advancing chronic illness. Calls for improved palliation in chronic lung disease mandate a review of related care gaps and current clinical practices. Although specialist palliative services have their advocates, adding yet another element to an already fragmented, often complex, care paradigm can be a challenge. Instead, we propose a more holistic, patient-centered approach based on elements fundamental to palliative and best care practices generally and integrated as needed across the entire illness trajectory. To support this approach, we review the concept of primary palliative care competencies, identify vulnerability specific to those living with advanced COPD (an exemplar of chronic lung disease), and describe the need for care plans shaped by patient-centered communication, timely palliative responsiveness, and effective advance care planning. A costly systemic issue in the management of chronic lung disease is patients' increasing dependency on episodic ED care to deal with preventable episodic crises and refractory dyspnea. We address this issue as part of a proposed model of care that provides proactive, collaborative case management and the appropriate and carefully monitored use of opioids. We encourage and support a renewed primary care resolve to integrate palliative approaches to care in advanced lung disease that, in concert with judicious referral to appropriate specialist palliative care services, is fundamental to what should be a more sustainable systematic improvement in palliative care delivery. PMID:25742140
Osteoarthritis: From Palliation to Prevention
Chu, Constance R.; Millis, Michael B.; Olson, Steven A.
Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability. The traditional focus on late-stage osteoarthritis has not yielded effective disease-modifying treatments. Consequently, current clinical care focuses on palliation until joint replacement is indicated. A symposium format was used to examine emerging strategies that support the transformation of the clinical approach to osteoarthritis from palliation to prevention. Central to this discussion are concepts for diagnosis and treatment of pre-osteoarthritis, meaning joint conditions that increase the risk of accelerated development of osteoarthritis. The presentation of translational and clinical research on three common orthopaedic conditions—anterior cruciate ligament tear, intra-articular fracture, and hip dysplasia—were used to illustrate these ideas. New information regarding the use of novel quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the form of ultrashort echo time enhanced T2* (UTE-T2*) mapping to evaluate the potential for articular cartilage to heal subsurface damage in a mechanically sound environment was presented. These data indicate that improved diagnostics can both identify cartilage at risk and evaluate the effectiveness of early treatment strategies. With use of a new mouse model for intra-articular fracture, it was shown that inflammation correlated to fracture severity and that super-healer mice avoided early posttraumatic osteoarthritis in part through an enhanced ability to dampen inflammation. These findings suggest that there is a role for acute and sustained anti-inflammatory treatment in the prevention of osteoarthritis. For long-term treatment, contemporary gene-therapy approaches may offer an effective means for sustained intra-articular delivery of anti-inflammatory and other bioactive agents to restore joint homeostasis. To illustrate the potential of early treatment to prevent or delay the onset of disabling osteoarthritis, the positive clinical effects on articular cartilage and
Elements of Engineering Excellence
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Blair, J. C.; Ryan, R. S.; Schutzenhofer
The inspiration for this Contract Report (CR) originated in discussions with the director of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Engineering who asked that we investigate the question: "How do you achieve excellence in aerospace engineering?" Engineering a space system is a complex activity. Avoiding its inherent potential pitfalls and achieving a successful product is a challenge. This CR presents one approach to answering the question of how to achieve Engineering Excellence. We first investigated the root causes of NASA major failures as a basis for developing a proposed answer to the question of Excellence. The following discussions integrate a triad of Technical Understanding and Execution, Partnership with the Project, and Individual and Organizational Culture. The thesis is that you must focus on the whole process and its underlying culture, not just on the technical aspects. In addition to the engineering process, emphasis is given to the need and characteristics of a Learning Organization as a mechanism for changing the culture.
Rocheta, Margarida; Dionísio, F Miguel; Fonseca, Luís; Pires, Ana M
Paternity analysis using microsatellite information is a well-studied subject. These markers are ideal for parentage studies and fingerprinting, due to their high-discrimination power. This type of data is used to assign paternity, to compute the average selfing and outcrossing rates and to estimate the biparental inbreeding. There are several public domain programs that compute all this information from data. Most of the time, it is necessary to export data to some sort of format, feed it to the program and import the output to an Excel book for further processing. In this article we briefly describe a program referred from now on as Paternity Analysis in Excel (PAE), developed at IST and IBET (see the acknowledgments) that computes paternity candidates from data, and other information, from within Excel. In practice this means that the end user provides the data in an Excel sheet and, by pressing an appropriate button, obtains the results in another Excel sheet. For convenience PAE is divided into two modules. The first one is a filtering module that selects data from the sequencer and reorganizes it in a format appropriate to process paternity analysis, assuming certain conventions for the names of parents and offspring from the sequencer. The second module carries out the paternity analysis assuming that one parent is known. Both modules are written in Excel-VBA and can be obtained at the address (www.math.ist.utl.pt/~fmd/pa/pa.zip). They are free for non-commercial purposes and have been tested with different data and against different software (Cervus, FaMoz, and MLTR). PMID:17928093
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yager, Robert E.
Visits to six school districts which were identified by the National Science Teachers Association's Search for Excellence program were made during 1983 by teams of 17 researchers. The reports were analyzed in search for common characteristics that can explain the requirements necessary for excellent science programs. The results indicate that creative ideas, administrative and community involvement, local ownership and pride, and well-developed in-service programs and implementation strategies are vital. Exceptional teachers with boundless energies also seem to exist where exemplary science programs are found.
Integrated pain and palliative medicine model.
Bhatnagar, Sushma; Gupta, Mayank
Pain is one of the most common, distressing and feared symptom among cancer and other patients in need of palliative care. An estimated 25% of cancer patients and 25 million people die in pain each year. Effective pain and symptom management are the core elements of palliative care which aims at reducing suffering and improving quality of life (QOL) throughout the course of illness starting from diagnosis, in sync with curative treatments and at end of life. There is a prevailing shortage of manpower apt to deal with pain and providing cost-effective palliative care and with the rise of cancer, other chronic diseases and explosion of new life-prolonging therapeutic modalities, this 'Patient-pain and palliative physician' discrepancy is only going to increase, more so in developing countries. The need of the hour is to train all healthcare physicians and nurses especially those working in the field of chronic pain in principles of effective pain and symptom palliation, to integrate cancer pain and symptom management into existing pain management fellowships and to introduce a holistic pain and palliative care model at all levels of healthcare system. Simultaneously, of equal importance is to conduct research, evidence building and formulate policies and guidelines for meticulous symptom management among the diverse category of patients and diseases so as to have a personalized and individualistic approach to patient management. In this comprehensive review, we have pondered upon the need, advantages, barriers and recommendations to achieve ideal 'Integrated pain and palliative medicine' services, their equitable implementation and delivery to 'whomsoever in need of them'. PMID:27334349
Pulmonary medicine and palliative care.
Tucakovic, M; Bascom, R; Bascom, P B
Gynaecological malignancies affect the respiratory system both directly and indirectly. Malignant pleural effusion is a poor prognostic factor: management options include repeated thoracentesis, chemical pleurodesis, symptomatic relief of dyspnoea with oxygen and morphine, and external drainage. Parenchymal metastases are typically multifocal and respond to chemotherapy, with a limited role for pulmonary metastatectomy. Pulmonary tumour embolism is frequently associated with lymphangitic carcinomatosis, and is most common in choriocarcinoma. Thromboembolic disease, associated with the hypercoagulable state of cancer, is treated with anticoagulation. Inferior vena cava filter placement is indicated when anticoagulation cannot be given, or when emboli recur despite adequate anticoagulation. Palliative care has a major role for respiratory symptoms of gynaecological malignancies. Treatable causes of dyspnoea include bronchospasm, fluid overload and retained secretions. Opiates are effective at relieving dyspnoea associated with effusions, metatases, and lymphangitic tumour spread. Non-pharmacological therapies include energy conservation, home redesign, and dyspnoea relief strategies, including pursed lip breathing, relaxation, oxygen, circulation of air with a fan, and attention to spiritual suffering. Identification and treatment of gastroesophageal reflux, sinusitis, and asthma can improve many patients' coughs. Chest wall pain responds to local radiotherapy, nerve blocks or systemic analgesia. Case examples illustrate ways to address quality of life issues. PMID:11358403
Effectively training the hospice and palliative medicine physician workforce for improved end-of-life health care in the United States.
Bui, Thomas
The widening gap between the demand for palliative care services and the supply of trained palliative care professionals has resulted in considerable end-of-life distress for patients. Without formal training in palliative medicine and end-of-life symptom management, physicians in the United States are less equipped to competently address seriously ill and dying patients' medical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Recent attempts within graduate medical education training deliberately seek to prepare a critical mass of physicians as the new hospice and palliative medicine workforce in the United States. In addition, healthcare reform proposals may re-define the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) post-graduate training over the next five years and the Hospice Medicare Benefit altogether. Healthcare policy options include steady changes at multiple levels of medical training -namely, medical school curriculum mandates, requiring all graduate physician residency training to foster patient-centered communication skills and discussions about advanced directives, and instituting palliative medicine proficiency Continuing Medical Education (CME) requirements for all states' medical licensing boards. Attracting qualified physicians to serve patients at the end of life, innovative medical school loan repayment programs and scholarships will also foster excellence in the field of hospice and palliative medicine. Correcting our current paucity of formal training in palliative medicine better utilizes hospice and restores patients' dignity at the end of life. PMID:22174315
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Angervall, Petra
The neo-liberal university not only changes systems of governance but also impacts on how subject positions are valued. These changes justify critical questions on how academics manoeuvre in academia. In this study focus is on the told experiences of 18 researchers who describe how they made an excellent career in academia. The results show that…
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Wright, Emmett L.; Perna, Jack A.
Presents the four program goals for biology set forth in the National Science Teacher Association's "A Focus on Excellence: Biology Revisited" to (1) address biosphere, human society, and individual needs; (2) encourage students to experience, understand, and appreciate of natural systems; (3) apply the basic concept of the biosphere; and (4)…
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Parramore, Keith
In Volume 26, Number 2, we reported on a group case study run for level 3 mathematics students at the University of Brighton. At the core of the study was a quadratic assignment problem, and we reported on attempts by students to use Excel to solve the problem, and on the attendant difficulties. We provided an elegant solution. In this article, we…
Methodologic issues in palliative care psychosocial research.
Cassileth, B R; Lusk, E J
The conduct of psychosocial research with palliative care patients or staff presents a major investigative challenge. The fragility of patients and their physical or cognitive limitations severely curtail the types of studies that are possible and the research methods that can be applied. A major limitation is that randomization, a critical experimental design feature, is rarely possible or ethical as a means of evaluating palliative care. However, even given the practical limitations of constructing a randomized experimental design, methodologically acceptable studies are possible, and methodologically inappropriate approaches can be avoided. Case reports (anecdotal studies) produce data that cannot be generalized to other patients. Single-test, no control group studies should be avoided for similar reasons. Acceptable research techniques that are feasible in the palliative care setting are renewed: careful research questions and associated hypotheses; determining appropriate sample sizes; developing comparison groups; selecting and evaluating an appropriate interview guide or questionnaire; avoiding interviewing bias, and so on. Moreover, it is necessary for the professional standing of palliative care that the exchange of information between palliative care staff and other health professionals be based upon scientifically sound studies. PMID:2614590
Palliative care in patients with heart failure.
McIlvennan, Colleen K; Allen, Larry A
Despite advances in cardiac therapy, heart failure (HF) remains a progressive, highly symptomatic, and deadly disease that places great demands on patients, caregivers, and healthcare systems. Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach to care that focuses on communication, shared decision making, and advance care planning; provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms; integrates psychological and spiritual aspects of care; and offers a support system to help families cope during illness and bereavement. Palliative care has applications across the stages of heart failure, including early in the course of illness, often in conjunction with other therapies that are intended to prolong life. However, the incorporation of palliative care into the management of heart failure has been suboptimal for several reasons: uncertainty in the disease trajectory, failure to reward communication between healthcare providers and patients, siloed care, lack of knowledge, overlay of comorbidity and frailty, life saving devices with complex trade-offs, and a limited evidence base. This review will summarize the current literature on the emerging role of palliative care in patients with heart failure and the challenges and opportunities for its integration into routine care. It will discuss current initiatives and future directions of the collaborative relationship between the palliative care and heart failure disciplines. PMID:27079896
Palliative care and the QALY problem.
Hughes, Jonathan
Practitioners of palliative care often argue for more resources to be provided by the state in order to lessen its reliance on charitable funding and to enable the services currently provided to some of those with terminal illnesses to be provided to all who would benefit from it. However, this is hard to justify on grounds of cost-effectiveness, since it is in the nature of palliative care that the benefits it brings to its patients are of short duration. In particular, palliative care fares badly under a policy of QALY-maximisation, since procedures which prevent premature death (provided the life is of reasonable quality) or improve quality of life for those with longer life expectancy will produce more QALYs. This paper examines various responses to this problem and argues that in order to justify increased resources for palliative care its advocates must reject the 'atomistic' view of the value of life implicit in the QALY approach in favour of a 'holistic' or 'narrative' account. This, however, has implications which advocates of palliative care may be reluctant to embrace. PMID:16435466
Palliative radiotherapy: current status and future directions.
Sharma, Sonam; Hertan, Lauren; Jones, Joshua
For nearly 100 years, palliative radiotherapy has been a time-efficient, effective treatment for patients with metastatic or advanced cancer in any area where local tumors are causing symptoms. Short courses including a single fraction of radiotherapy may be effective for symptom relief with minimal side effects and maximization of convenience for patient and family. With recent advances in imaging, surgery, and other local therapies as well as systemic cancer therapies, palliative radiotherapy has been used frequently in patients who may not yet have symptoms of advanced or metastatic cancer. In this setting, more prolonged radiotherapy courses and advanced radiotherapy techniques including intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) may be useful in obtaining local control and durable palliative responses. This review will explore the use of radiotherapy across the spectrum of patients with advanced and metastatic cancer and delineate an updated, rational approach for the use of palliative radiotherapy that incorporates symptoms, prognosis, and other factors into the delivery of palliative radiotherapy. PMID:25499634
European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) framework for palliative sedation: an ethical discussion
Background The aim of this paper is to critically discuss some of the ethically controversial issues regarding continuous deep palliative sedation at the end of life that are addressed in the EAPC recommended framework for the use of sedation in palliative care. Discussion We argue that the EAPC framework would have benefited from taking a clearer stand on the ethically controversial issues regarding intolerable suffering and refractory symptoms and regarding the relation between continuous deep palliative sedation at the end of life and euthanasia. It is unclear what constitutes refractory symptoms and what the relationship is between refractory symptoms and intolerable suffering, which in turn makes it difficult to determine what are necessary and sufficient criteria for palliative sedation at the end of life, and why. As regards the difference between palliative sedation at the end of life and so-called slow euthanasia, the rationale behind stressing the difference is insufficiently demonstrated, e.g. due to an overlooked ambiguity in the concept of intention. It is therefore unclear when palliative sedation at the end of life amounts to abuse and why. Conclusions The EAPC framework would have benefited from taking a clearer stand on some ethically controversial issues regarding intolerable suffering and refractory symptoms and regarding the relation between continuous deep palliative sedation at the end of life and euthanasia. In this text, we identify and discuss these issues in the hope that an ensuing discussion will clarify the EAPC's standpoint. PMID:20836861
Transdisciplinary science: a path to understanding the interactions among ocean acidification, ecosystems, and society
Yates, Kimberly K.; Turley, Carol; Hopkinson, Brian M.; Todgham, Anne E.; Cross, Jessica N.; Greening, Holly; Williamson, Phillip; Van Hooidonk, Ruben; Deheyn, Dimitri D.; Johnson, Zachary
The global nature of ocean acidification (OA) transcends habitats, ecosystems, regions, and science disciplines. The scientific community recognizes that the biggest challenge in improving understanding of how changing OA conditions affect ecosystems, and associated consequences for human society, requires integration of experimental, observational, and modeling approaches from many disciplines over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Such transdisciplinary science is the next step in providing relevant, meaningful results and optimal guidance to policymakers and coastal managers. We discuss the challenges associated with integrating ocean acidification science across funding agencies, institutions, disciplines, topical areas, and regions, and the value of unifying science objectives and activities to deliver insights into local, regional, and global scale impacts. We identify guiding principles and strategies for developing transdisciplinary research in the ocean acidification science community.
Crossing the boundaries delivering trans-disciplinary science in a disciplinary world.
Elliot, Elizabeth A; Hayes, Neil W
Major research initiatives are increasingly drawing on multiple disparate disciplines and systems biology is a key exemplar. Trans-disciplinary research occurs where individual disciplinary traditions combine to create new shared knowledge that cannot be said to fit within the domain of any single discipline. Generation of new understanding of biological systems at the cell, organ, or organism level clearly meets these criteria, and we therefore consider systems biology research a truly trans-disciplinary undertaking. Aside from the technological challenges of combining research outcomes of the contributing disciplines, directing and managing the overall research program also presents a significant challenge. In this chapter, we discuss the challenges of and enablers to working across the broad range of disciplines that contribute to systems biology research; we discuss potential management models that may be adopted and the features, benefits, and drawbacks of each, introducing examples of management models adopted at two UK Systems Biology Centres. PMID:21943918
A Transdisciplinary Approach to Public Health Law: The Emerging Practice of Legal Epidemiology.
Burris, Scott; Ashe, Marice; Levin, Donna; Penn, Matthew; Larkin, Michelle
Public health law has roots in both law and science. For more than a century, lawyers have helped develop and implement health laws; over the past 50 years, scientific evaluation of the health effects of laws and legal practices has achieved high levels of rigor and influence. We describe an emerging model of public health law that unites these two traditions. This transdisciplinary model adds scientific practices to the lawyerly functions of normative and doctrinal research, counseling, and representation. These practices include policy surveillance and empirical public health law research on the efficacy of legal interventions and the impact of laws and legal practices on health and health system operation. A transdisciplinary model of public health law, melding its legal and scientific facets, can help break down enduring cultural, disciplinary, and resource barriers that have prevented the full recognition and optimal role of law in public health. PMID:26667606
Pediatric Palliative Care: A Reflection on Terminology
Bergstraesser, Eva
The definition of palliative care is the cornerstone of a medical subspecialty that plays a particular role for all who need it, for all who practice it, and increasingly for those who try to understand it. The difficulties around the definition and terminology arise from problems in separating it from other concepts such as supportive care, constructs such as "palliative care is only about dying", or, in children, the rather vague use of terms like life-threatening and life-limiting diseases. These weaknesses have been recognized and important steps have been taken. This review discusses current definitions as well as efforts to overcome their weaknesses and make the term palliative care—for both children and adults—more intelligible. PMID:25278760
Respect for persons, autonomy and palliative care.
Woods, Simon
This paper explores some of the values that underpin health care and how these relate more specifically to the values and ethics of palliative care. The paper focuses on the concept of autonomy because autonomy has emerged as a foundational concept in contemporary health care ethics and because this is an opportunity to scratch the surface of this concept in order to reveal something of its complexity, a necessary precaution when applying the concept to the context of palliative care. The paper begins with a theoretical discussion of autonomy exploring an aspect of its contemporary meaning and relevance to health care. The second part of the paper focuses more closely on how the principle of respect for autonomy can be applied in the context of palliative care. In this section an ethical framework is employed to explore a practical application of this principle within a broader context of respect for persons. PMID:16215803
A transdisciplinary approach to wearables, big data and quality of life.
Sungmee Park; Jayaraman, Sundaresan
Today, the term "wearable" goes beyond the traditional definition of clothing; it refers to an accessory that enables personalized mobile information processing. We define the concept of wearables, present their attributes and discuss their role at the core of an ecosystem for harnessing big data. We discuss the concept of a meta-wearable and propose a transdisciplinary approach to transform the field and enhance the quality of life for everyone. PMID:25570907
Transdisciplinary tour-de-force: The Canadian National Transplant Research Program.
Hébert, Marie-Josée; Hartell, David; West, Lori
The Canadian National Transplant Research Program, launched in 2013 with funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and partners, bridges research in the fields of solid organ transplant, hematopoietic cell transplant, and organ donation. We describe the philosophy, structure, accomplishments, and challenges faced by the Canadian National Transplant Research Program to expand on facilitators and overcome roadblocks to successfully developing a transdisciplinary national research structure. PMID:26900804
A transdisciplinary team acting on evidence through analyses of moot malpractice cases.
Constantino, Rose E
A transdiciplinary team is crucial for healthcare systems to act based on evidence in responding to the global demand of the business of caring and patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to outline a transdisciplinary team led by nurses that examines linkages between moot malpractice cases filed against a healthcare system and to the quality of the healthcare system's ecology, caregiver, and patient safety outcomes. PMID:17577087
Tensions between opening up and closing down moments in transdisciplinary water research
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Krueger, Tobias; Maynard, Carly; Carr, Gemma; Bruns, Antje; Mueller, Eva; Lane, Stuart
Research on water is carried out by many disciplines that do not really talk to each other much, despite critical interactions of multiple social and biophysical processes in shaping how much and what kind of water is where, at what time and for whom. What is more, water has meaning to more than those who are scientists. And scientists are not so removed from the things they study as one might commonly believe. All these observations call for a transdisciplinary research agenda that brings together different scientific disciplines with the knowledge that other groups in society hold and that tries to be aware of its own limitations. The transdisciplinary perspective is especially pertinent to the scientific decade 2013-2022 of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) on change in hydrology and society, 'Panta Rhei,' for a balanced conceptualization and study of human-water relations. Transdisciplinarity is inherently about opening up traditional modes of knowledge production; in terms of framing the research problem, the methodology and the knowledge that is considered permissible. This should open up the range of options for management intervention, too. While decisions on how to intervene will inevitably close down the issue periodically, the point here is to leave alternative routes of action open long enough, or reopen them again, so as to counter unsustainable and inequitable path-dependencies and lock-ins. However, opening up efforts are frequently in conflict with factors that work to close down knowledge production. Among those are framings, path-dependencies, vested interests, researchers' positionalities, power, and scale. In this presentation, based on Krueger et al. (2016), we will reflect on the tensions between opening up and closing down moments in transdisciplinary water research and draw important practical lessons. References Krueger, T., Maynard, C.M., Carr, G., Bruns, A., Mueller, E.N. and Lane, S.N. (forthcoming in 2016) A
Palliative care in the ambulatory geriatric practice.
Finucane, Thomas E; Nirmalasari, Olivia; Graham, Antonio
Geriatrics and palliative care often overlap. This article focuses on 2 areas where the disciplines may differ in their approach. The first is planning for extreme illness and death, with explicit acknowledgment that limiting therapy might be a good idea. This situation is likely to have a different impact in the course of a routine geriatrics visit than in a palliative care context. The second is pain management, especially chronic pain. In patients with sharply limited life expectancy, the risk/benefit equation tilts easily toward narcotic use. In frail elders working to remain independent, the calculus may be quite different. PMID:25920055
Compassion fatigue in pediatric palliative care providers.
Rourke, Mary T
The experience of compassion fatigue is an expected and common response to the professional task of routinely caring for children at the end of life. Symptoms of compassion fatigue often mimic trauma reactions. Implementing strategies that span personal, professional, and organizational domains can help protect health care providers from the damaging effects of compassion fatigue. Providing pediatric palliative care within a constructive and supportive team can help caregivers deal with the relational challenges of compassion fatigue. Finally, any consideration of the toll of providing pediatric palliative care must be balanced with a consideration of the parallel experience of compassion satisfaction. PMID:17933615
Endoscopic palliation of malignant biliary strictures
Salgado, Sanjay M; Gaidhane, Monica; Kahaleh, Michel
Malignant biliary strictures often present late after the window for curative resection has elapsed. In such patients, the goal of therapy is typically focused on palliation. While historically, palliative measures were performed surgically, the advent of endoscopic intervention offers minimally invasive options to provide relief of symptoms, improve quality of life, and in some cases, increase survival of these patients. Some of these therapies, such as endoscopic biliary decompression, have become mainstays of treatment for decades, whereas newer modalities, including radiofrequency ablation, and photodynamic therapy offer additional options for patients with incurable biliary malignancies. PMID:26989459
Palliative Home Care: A Designer's Perspective.
Bhatnagar, Tigmanshu
The purpose for this observational research was to understand how Can Support provides palliative care at home and analyze its strengths and weaknesses in various socioeconomic scenarios for future development. In the period of 2 weeks, patients and their caregivers were silently observed in their natural surroundings during home care visits in order to listen their problems, identify the pattern of questions for the home care team, their natural way of storytelling, organizational techniques for medicines and medical reports, care givers lives, patient journey, etc. Such observations have enabled the understanding of the phenomena of home palliative care and have led to the identification of certain influential variables of the practice. PMID:26009683
The palliative care clinical nurse consultant: an essential link.
O'Connor, Margaret; Chapman, Ysanne
This study describes the role of acute hospital palliative care nurse consultants and makes recommendations about future directions for the role development of this role. While the palliative care nurse consultant role is accepted in the acute setting there is little evidence or literature about what contributes to the success of this role. A three-phase study was undertaken to describe the role of palliative care nurse consultants in acute hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. The first phase of the three-phase study, involving in-depth qualitative interviews with the palliative care nurse consultants, is reported in this article. Using open-ended semi-structured questions, 10 palliative care nurse consultants were interviewed using open-ended questions about aspects of their role and the interviews were thematically analysed. Four main themes were identified that clarified the role; being the internal link; being the lynch pin; being responsive and being challenged. The palliative care nurse consultants were the first point of introduction to palliative care and thus they saw a significant role in introducing the concept of palliative care to those requiring palliative care, their families and others. They are an important link between the settings of care required by people accessing palliative care-acute, in-patient palliative care and community care. The palliative care nurse consultants saw themselves in leadership positions that in some ways defy boundaries, because of the inherent complexity and diversity of the role. The palliative care nurse consultants' role appears to be pivotal in providing expert advice to staff and people requiring palliative care, and connecting palliative care services both within the hospital and to external services. PMID:19112925
Strategies for transdisciplinary research on peri-urban groundwater management in the Ganges delta
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hermans, Leon; Thissen, Wil; Gomes, Sharlene; Banerjee, Poulomi; Narain, Vishal; Salehin, Mashfiqus; Hasan, Rezaul; Barua, Anamika; Alam Khan, Shah; Bhattacharya, Samir; Kempers, Remi; Banerjee, Parthasarathi; Hossain, Zakir; Majumdar, Binoy; Hossain, Riad
Transdisciplinary science transcends disciplinary boundaries. The reasons to engage in transdisciplinary science are many and include the desire to nurture a more direct relationship between science and society, as well as the desire to explain phenomena that cannot be explained by any of the existing disciplinary bodies of knowledge in isolation. Both reasons also reinforce each other, as reality often features a level of complexity that demands and inspires the combination of scientific knowledge from various disciplines. The challenge in transdisciplinary science, however, is not so much to cross disciplinary boundaries, but to ensure an effective connection between disciplines. This contribution reports on the strategy used in a transdisciplinary research project to address groundwater management in peri-urban areas in the Ganges delta. Groundwater management in peri-urban areas in rapidly urbanizing deltas is affected by diverse forces such as rapid population growth, increased economic activity and changing livelihood patterns, and other forces which result in a growing pressure on available groundwater resources. Understanding the intervention possibilities for a more sustainable groundwater management in these peri-urban areas requires an understanding of the dynamic interplay between various sub-systems, such as the physical groundwater system, the water using activities in households and livelihoods, and the institutional system of formal and informal rules that are used by various parties to access groundwater resources and to distribute the associated societal and economic costs and benefits. The ambition in the reported project is to contribute both new scientific knowledge, as well as build capacity with peri-urban stakeholders to improve the sustainability and equitability of local groundwater management. This is done by combining science and development activities, led by different organizations. The scientific component further consists of three
Research sensitivities to palliative care patients.
Addington-Hall, J
This paper considers the methodological challenges of researching the health care experiences of palliative care patients and their families. Difficulties in defining a 'palliative care patient' are highlighted, and the question of whether there are specific ethical issues when researching palliative care explored. Methodological issues are discussed, including the negotiation of access via health professionals, the choice of appropriate data collection methods and tools, the consequences of high attrition rates and the use of retrospective surveys of bereaved relatives. Key areas for research are identified. These include patients' and families' experiences of research participation, the impact of being approached on those who decline, how the characteristics of those who participate differ from those who do not and the likely impact of this on findings. Research is also needed into patient and family motivations for participation, and whether and how these change as the disease progresses. To ensure that the voices of palliative care patients and their families are heard by both service providers and policy-makers, research in this area needs to address the methodological challenges raised in this paper, as well as continuing to explore users' views. PMID:12296842
Palliative Care Enrichment in Geropsychology Fellowships.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Strauss, Gerald; Nelson, Barbara J.
Interviews with 6 of 10 Veterans' Affairs programs offering postdoctoral fellowships in geropsychology indicated that only 30% included palliative care or hospice training, despite the fact that the veteran population is likely to have an increasing need for terminal illness care. (SK)
Palliative Care for the Seriously Ill
Kelley, Amy S.; Morrison, R. Sean
Palliative care is the interdisciplinary specialty focused on improving quality of life for persons with serious illness and their families. Over the past decade,1 the field has undergone substantial growth and change, including an expanded evidence base, new care-delivery models, innovative payment mechanisms, and increasing public and professional awareness. PMID:26287850
[The role of laughter in palliative care].
Bégnon, Julie; Vigneron, Sylvie
A team has studied the impact of laughter in palliative care. For the majority of caregivers, laughter is perceived as a complementary tool for supporting patients, but many are reluctant to use it. Patients, for their part, are receptive to it. Used in the correct doses, laughter can enrich care. PMID:26145138
[Palliative care day hospital and nursing coordination].
Teillet, Fabienne
The palliative care day hospital is still underdeveloped in France, unlike in Anglo-Saxon countries. Its main mission is to help improve the quality of life at home of the patient suffering from a serious and progressive disease. It offers an inter-disciplinary and global approach in which the nurse's role is quite specific. PMID:26567073
The Quality Imperative for Palliative Care
Kamal, Arif H.; Hanson, Laura C.; Casarett, David J.; Dy, Sydney M.; Pantilat, Steven Z.; Lupu, Dale; Abernethy, Amy P.
Palliative medicine must prioritize the routine assessment of the quality of clinical care we provide. This includes regular assessment, analysis, and reporting of data on quality. Assessment of quality informs opportunities for improvement and demonstrates to our peers and ourselves the value of our efforts. In fact, continuous messaging of the value of palliative care services is needed to sustain our discipline; this requires regularly evaluating the quality of our care. As the reimbursement mechanisms for health care in the United States shift from fee-for-service to fee-for-value models, palliative care will be expected to report robust data on quality of care. We must move beyond demonstrating to our constituents (including patients and referrers), "here is what we do," and increase the focus on "this is how well we do it" and "let's see how we can do it better." It is incumbent on palliative care professionals to lead these efforts. This involves developing standardized methods to collect data without adding additional burden, comparing and sharing our experiences to promote discipline-wide quality assessment and improvement initiatives, and demonstrating our intentions for quality improvement on the clinical frontline. PMID:25057987
Distress, Stress and Solidarity in Palliative Care.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
deMontigny, Johanne
Notes that role of psychologist on palliative care unit is to be there for terminally ill, their friends, and their families, both during the dying and the bereavement and for the caregiver team. Focuses on work of decoding ordinary words which for many patients hide painful past. Stresses necessity to remain open to unexpected. (Author/NB)
Pediatric Palliative Care at a Glance
... can care start? • Receive services, like art or music therapy • Find ways to relax and play Palliative ... Nurses • Child life specialists • Respite providers • Art and music therapists • Chaplains • Case managers • Counselors • Home health aides • ...
The quality imperative for palliative care.
Kamal, Arif H; Hanson, Laura C; Casarett, David J; Dy, Sydney M; Pantilat, Steven Z; Lupu, Dale; Abernethy, Amy P
Palliative medicine must prioritize the routine assessment of the quality of clinical care we provide. This includes regular assessment, analysis, and reporting of data on quality. Assessment of quality informs opportunities for improvement and demonstrates to our peers and ourselves the value of our efforts. In fact, continuous messaging of the value of palliative care services is needed to sustain our discipline; this requires regularly evaluating the quality of our care. As the reimbursement mechanisms for health care in the U.S. shift from fee-for-service to fee-for-value models, palliative care will be expected to report robust data on quality of care. We must move beyond demonstrating to our constituents (including patients and referrers), "here is what we do," and increase the focus on "this is how well we do it" and "let us see how we can do it better." It is incumbent on palliative care professionals to lead these efforts. This involves developing standardized methods to collect data without adding additional burden, comparing and sharing our experiences to promote discipline-wide quality assessment and improvement initiatives, and demonstrating our intentions for quality improvement on the clinical frontline. PMID:25057987
Palliation of bone pain with Sn-117m(4+)DTPA
Atkins, L.F.; Mausner, L.F.; Meinken, G.E.
Sn-117m(4+)DTPA prepared at Brookhaven National Laboratory has favorable physical and biological characteristics for use as a palliative agent to relieve pain from osseous metastases. The short range of the emitted conversion electrons permits large bone radiation doses without excessive radiation to the bone marrow. An accompanying 158.6 keV gamma is useful for monitoring the distribution. The T1/2 of 13.6 days provides an adequate shelf life. A previous study in humans has demonstrated favorable dosimetry with a bone surface dose of approximately 57.9 mGy/MBq and a bone surface to marrow ratio of 10:1. This study was instituted to find a dose level which was effective and to monitor effects on bone marrow. Sn-117m was administered to 14 patients. Administered activity ranged between 66 and 573 MBq or 1.2-5.8 MBq/kg body weight. At the lower dose levels (<3.1 MBq/kg, n=7), 1 obtained good relief of pain, 1 partial relief, and 1 no relief. The remaining 4 were not evaluated because of the need for further treatment of soft tissue disease or because of intervening death. The 7 patients treated at the higher dose level (4.8-5.8 MBq/kg) included patients with prostate (3), breast (3) and unknown (1) primary cancers. All patients experienced relief of pain, 5 excellent and 2 partial. No marrow suppression was observed as a result of Sn-117m therapy. Initial observations indicate that Sn-117m DTPA is effective in palliation of pain from osseous metastases without producing bone marrow suppression. Further studies at a higher dose level are planned.
Factors influencing palliative care. Qualitative study of family physicians' practices.
Brown, J. B.; Sangster, M.; Swift, J.
OBJECTIVE: To examine factors that influence family physicians' decisions to practise palliative care. DESIGN: Qualitative method of in-depth interviews. SETTING: Southwestern Ontario. PARTICIPANTS: Family physicians who practise palliative care on a full-time basis, who practise on a part-time basis, or who have retired from active involvement in palliative care. METHOD: Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted to explore factors that influence family physicians' decisions to practise palliative care and factors that sustain their interest in palliative care. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The analysis strategy used a phenomenological approach and occurred concurrently rather than sequentially. All interview transcriptions were read independently by the researchers, who then compared and combined their analyses. Final analysis involved examining all interviews collectively, thus permitting relationships between and among central themes to emerge. MAIN OUTCOME FINDINGS: The overriding theme was a common philosophy of palliative care focusing on acceptance of death, whole person care, compassion, communication, and teamwork. Participants' philosophies were shaped by their education and by professional and personal experiences. In addition, participants articulated personal and systemic factors currently affecting their practice of palliative care. CONCLUSIONS: Participants observed that primary care physicians should be responsible for their patients' palliative care within the context of interdisciplinary teams. For medical students to be knowledgeable and sensitive to the needs of dying patients, palliative care should be given higher priority in the curriculum. Finally, participants argued compellingly for transferring the philosophy of palliative care to the overall practice of medicine. PMID:9612588
A transdisciplinary approach to the decision-making process in extreme prematurity
Background A wide range of dilemmas encountered in the health domain can be addressed more efficiently by a transdisciplinary approach. The complex context of extreme prematurity, which is raising important challenges for caregivers and parents, warrants such an approach. Methods In the present work, experts from various disciplinary fields, namely biomedical, epidemiology, psychology, ethics, and law, were enrolled to participate in a reflection. Gathering a group of experts could be very demanding, both in terms of time and resources, so we created a web-based discussion forum to facilitate the exchanges. The participants were mandated to solve two questions: "Which parameters should be considered before delivering survival care to a premature baby born at the threshold of viability?" and "Would it be acceptable to give different information to parents according to the sex of the baby considering that outcome differences exist between sexes?" Results The discussion forum was performed over a period of nine months and went through three phases: unidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, which required extensive discussions and the preparation of several written reports. Those steps were successfully achieved and the participants finally developed a consensual point of view regarding the initial questions. This discussion board also led to a concrete knowledge product, the publication of the popularized results as an electronic book. Conclusions We propose, with our transdisciplinary analysis, a relevant and innovative complement to existing guidelines regarding the decision-making process for premature infants born at the threshold of viability, with an emphasis on the respective responsabilities of the caregivers and the parents. PMID:25023324
Untangling the Complexity of Liver Fluke Infection and Cholangiocarcinoma in NE Thailand Through Transdisciplinary Learning.
Ziegler, A D; Echaubard, P; Lee, Y T; Chuah, C J; Wilcox, B A; Grundy-Warr, C; Sithithaworn, P; Petney, T N; Laithevewat, L; Ong, X; Andrews, R H; Ismail, T; Sripa, B; Khuntikeo, N; Poonpon, K; Tungtang, P; Tuamsuk, K
This study demonstrates how a transdisciplinary learning approach provided new insights for explaining persistent Opisthorchis viverrini infection in northern Thailand, as well as elucidating problems of focusing solely on the parasite as a means of addressing high prevalence of cholangiocarcinoma. Researchers from diverse backgrounds collaborated to design an investigative homestay program for 72 Singaporean and Thai university students in five northeast Thai villages. The students explored how liver fluke infection and potential cholangiocarcinoma development are influenced by local landscape dynamics, aquatic ecology, livelihoods, food culture and health education. Qualitative fieldwork was guided daily by the researchers in a collaborative, co-learning process that led to viewing this health issue as a complex system, influenced by interlinked multidimensional factors. Our transdisciplinary experience has led us to believe that an incomplete understanding of these linkages may reduce the efficacy of interventions. Further, viewing liver fluke infection and cholangiocarcinoma as the same issue is inadvisable. Although O. viverrini infection is an established risk factor for the development of cholangiocarcinoma, multiple factors are known to influence the likelihood of acquiring either. Understanding the importance of the current livelihood transition, landscape modification and the resulting mismatch between local cultures and new socio-ecological settings on cholangiocarcinoma initiation and liver fluke transmission is of critical importance as it may help readjust our view of the respective role of O. viverrini and other socioeconomic risk factors in cholangiocarcinoma etiology and refine intervention strategies. As demonstrated in this study, transdisciplinary approaches have the potential to yield more nuanced perspectives to complex diseases than research that focuses on specific aspects of their epidemiology. They may therefore be valuable when designing
Practical Tips and Techniques on the Process of Transdisciplinary Sea Level Rise Research
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
DeLorme, D.; Hagen, S. C.; Kidwell, D.; Stephens, S. H.
There is increasing awareness of the need for transdisciplinary science to address complex climate change issues, yet practical guidance is lacking. This presentation describes the iterative planning, implementation, and evaluation process of an ongoing transdisciplinary sea level rise (SLR) research project. Observations, reflections, and recommendations from firsthand experience are shared, illustrated with examples, and placed within a transdisciplinary research framework. The NOAA-sponsored project, Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (EESLR-NGOM) is a six-year regional study involving a team of biology, ecology, civil/coastal engineering, and communication scholars working with government agency personnel and industry professionals; supervising students and post-doctoral researchers; and engaging a group of non-academic stakeholders (i.e., coastal resource managers). EESLR-NGOM's focus is on detailed assessment and process-based modeling to project SLR impacts on northern Gulf of Mexico coastal wetland habitats and flood plains. This presentation highlights collaboration, communication, and project management considerations, and explains knowledge co-production from a dynamic combination of natural and social scientific methods (secondary data analysis, computer modeling, field observations, field and laboratory experiments, focus group interviews, surveys) and interrelated stakeholder engagement mechanisms (advisory committee, project flow chart, workshops, focus groups, webinars) infused throughout the EESLR-NGOM project to improve accessibility and utility of the scientific results and products. Attention is also given to project evaluation including monitoring, multiple quantitative and qualitative measures, and recognition of challenges and limitations. This presentation should generate productive dialogue and direction for similar endeavors to find transformative solutions to pressing problems of climate change.
Transdisciplinary research in theatrical literature through technological integration and interfacing information
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Pop, P. P.; Pop-Vădean, A.; Barz, C.; Latinovic, T.
This paper aims to address more confident mathematical laws to explain a literary phenomenon. For this we studied the play "O scrisoare pierduta (Lost Letter)" written by Ion Luca Caragiale, in order to establish some connection between the characters but also to show certain aspects hidden by the author under the personality of the characters. We use transdisciplinary research to get from measurements and calculations results who will demonstrate objective of the proposed research. The challenge is to find those favorite characters by the author. Information and communications technology is a tool for research that will integrate this knowledge for modeling and interfacing.
HIFU for Palliative Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer.
Khokhlova, Tatiana D; Hwang, Joo Ha
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest malignancies, with only a 6 % 5-year survival rate and over 50 % of patients being diagnosed at the advanced stage. Current therapies are ineffective, and the treatment of patients with advanced disease is palliative. In the past decade, HIFU ablation has emerged as a modality for palliative treatment of pancreatic tumors. Multiple preclinical and non-randomized clinical trials have been performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this procedure. Substantial tumor-related pain reduction was achieved in most cases after HIFU treatment and few significant side effects were observed. In addition, some studies indicate that combination of HIFU ablation with chemotherapy may provide a survival benefit. This chapter summarizes the pre-clinical and clinical experience obtained to date in HIFU treatment of pancreatic tumors and discusses the challenges, limitations and new approaches in this modality. PMID:26486333
Palliative Radiofrequency Ablation for Recurrent Prostate Cancer
Jindal, Gaurav; Friedman, Marc; Locklin, Julia Wood, Bradford J.
Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive local therapy for cancer. Its efficacy is now becoming well documented in many different organs, including liver, kidney, and lung. The goal of RFA is typically complete eradication of a tumor in lieu of an invasive surgical procedure. However, RFA can also play an important role in the palliative care of cancer patients. Tumors which are surgically unresectable and incompatible for complete ablation present the opportunity for RFA to be used in a new paradigm. Cancer pain runs the gamut from minor discomfort relieved with mild pain medication to unrelenting suffering for the patient, poorly controlled by conventional means. RFA is a tool which can potentially palliate intractable cancer pain. We present here a case in which RFA provided pain relief in a patient with metastatic prostate cancer with pain uncontrolled by conventional methods.
Custom Ocular Prosthesis: A Palliative Approach
Thakkar, Prachi; Patel, JR; Sethuraman, Rajesh; Nirmal, Narendra
The goal of palliative care is the achievement of the best quality of life for patients and their families. Eyes are generally the first features of the face to be noticed. Loss of an eye is a traumatic event which has a crippling effect on the psychology of the patient. Several ocular and orbital disorders require surgical intervention that may result in ocular defects. An ocular prosthesis is fabricated to restore the structure, function, and cosmetics of the defects created by such conditions. Although an implant eye prosthesis has a superior outcome, due to economic factors it may not be a feasible option for all patients. Therefore, a custom-made ocular prosthesis is a good alternative. This case report presents a palliative treatment for a patient with an enucleated eye by fabricating a custom ocular prosthesis which improved his psychological, physical, social, functional, emotional and spiritual needs. PMID:22837616
Palliative care in COPD: an unmet area for quality improvement.
Vermylen, Julia H; Szmuilowicz, Eytan; Kalhan, Ravi
COPD is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients suffer from refractory breathlessness, unrecognized anxiety and depression, and decreased quality of life. Palliative care improves symptom management, patient reported health-related quality of life, cost savings, and mortality though the majority of patients with COPD die without access to palliative care. There are many barriers to providing palliative care to patients with COPD including the difficulty in prognosticating a patient's course causing referrals to occur late in a patient's disease. Additionally, physicians avoid conversations about advance care planning due to unique communication barriers present with patients with COPD. Lastly, many health systems are not set up to provide trained palliative care physicians to patients with chronic disease including COPD. This review analyzes the above challenges, the available data regarding palliative care applied to the COPD population, and proposes an alternative approach to address the unmet needs of patients with COPD with proactive primary palliative care. PMID:26345486
The Role of Psychology in Pediatric Palliative Care.
Edlynn, Emily; Kaur, Harpreet
Pediatric medicine increasingly has recognized the value of integrating behavioral health in medical care, but this trend has not yet extended to pediatric palliative care. Results from a recent survey of pediatric palliative care programs across the United States indicate that team composition almost never included a psychologist. This article presents a model of collaborative care to optimize the integration of psychosocial and medical aspects of treatment in pediatric palliative care, delineating how a psychologist adds to this model. This article argues that psychology brings specialized skills in assessment, intervention, and research that fit with the premise of palliative care as a holistic approach that relieves symptoms. Systematic inclusion of psychologists on pediatric palliative care teams may help to improve effectiveness of services as well as extend the knowledge base of mental health in pediatric palliative care. PMID:27008276
Toward Excellence in Technology Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
LaPorte, James E.
This article presents a text of a speech delivered by the author at the Foundation for Technology Education (FTE) Spirit of Excellence breakfast in Salt Lake City, Utah. In this speech, the author talked about the meaning of excellence. In order to pursue excellence, the author suggested that people in the field of technology education should…
Palliative Care: Increasing the quality of life for patients and families… | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine
... this page please turn JavaScript on. Feature: Palliative Care Palliative Care: Increasing the quality of life for patients and ... Past Issues / Spring 2014 Table of Contents Palliative Care: Conversations Matter™ for Sick Children "Palliative Care: Conversations ...
[Palliative care needs in advanced chronic illness].
Tripodoro, Vilma A; Rynkiewicz, María C; Llanos, Victoria; Padova, Susana; De Lellis, Silvina; De Simone, Gustavo
About 75% of population will die from one or more chronic progressive diseases. From this projection WHO urged countries to devise strategies for strengthening palliative treatment as part of comprehensive care. In Catalonia, Spain, direct measurement of the prevalence of these patients with NECPAL CCOMS-ICO© tool was 1.5% of the population. This tool is an indicative, not dichotomous, quali-quantitative multifactorial evaluation to be completed by the treating physician. In Argentina there is no information on these patients. Our goal was to explore and characterize the proportion of chronically ill patients in palliative care needs, by NECPAL CCOMS-ICO© tool, in an accessible population of the City of Buenos Aires. General hospitals of the Health Region 2 (Piñero, álvarez and Santojanni) and its program areas were surveyed. In Health Region 1, we surveyed the Udaondo gastroenterology hospital. A total of 53 physicians (704 patients) were interviewed. It was identified that 29.5% of these patients were affected by advanced chronic diseases; 72.1% of them were NECPAL positive, younger (median 64) than in others studies, and more than 98% presented high levels of comorbidity. Palliative care demand (31.4%) and needs (52.7%) were recorded. Specific indicators of fragility, progression, severity and kind of chronic disease were described. The main finding was to identify, with an instrument not based on mortality that, in Buenos Aires City, 1 in 3 patients with chronic diseases could die in the next year and had palliative care needs. PMID:27295702
Palliation and supportive care in radiation medicine.
Janjan, Nora
The treatment of bone metastases represents a paradigm for evaluating palliative care in terms of symptom relief, toxicities of therapy, and the financial burden to the patient, caregivers, and society. Despite enormous expenditures to treat metastases, patients continue to sustain symptoms of the disease, and uninterrupted aggressive therapies are pursued until death that incur toxicity in approximately 25% of patients. This approach is inconsistent with the goals of palliative care, which should efficiently provide comfort using antineoplastic therapies or supportive care approaches to the patient with the fewest treatment-related side effects, recognizing that the patient will die of the disease.The development of therapies such as bisphosphonates is important in advancing options for palliative care; however, clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of bisphosphonates have not addressed important issues for clinical practice. The primary study endpoints should primarily address pertinent patient outcomes such as pain relief rather than asymptomatic radiographic findings. These studies should define clear indications of when to start and stop the therapy, the appropriate patient populations to receive the therapy, and the cost effectiveness of the treatment relative to other available therapies such as radiation. Cost-utility analyses, which account for a broader domain of cost effectiveness, need to be performed as part of clinical trials, especially for palliative care endpoints. Clinical trials that include these criteria are critical to future practice guideline development. As health care resources continue to become more limited, the criteria for care must be better defined to avoid administration of therapy with limited benefit. Leadership must come from the specialty as clinical trials and clinical practice increasingly interface with health care policy. Goals of therapy must remain clear for the benefit of the individual and all patients. PMID
Using Skype to support palliative care surveillance.
Jones, Jacqueline
The aim of this article is to demonstrate how a novel yet important tool can facilitate family involvement in person-centred care, despite geographical distance. The author presents a case study as an in-depth example of the use of Skype in the context of palliative care at home. Skype enhanced family surveillance and symptom management, augmented shared decision making, provided a space for virtual bedside vigil, and ultimately provided the rapport necessary for optimal end of life care. PMID:24471549
Palliative Care Eases Symptoms, Enhances Lives | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine
... of this page please turn JavaScript on. Feature: Palliative Care Palliative Care Eases Symptoms, Enhances Lives Past Issues / Spring 2014 ... pharmacists, nutritionists, and others. When do I need palliative care? Many adults and children living with serious diseases ...
How to Get It -- Step 2: Meet the Palliative Care Team
... the Quiz Step 3: Meet the Palliative Care Team The palliative care team will spend a lot ... learn more about palliative care? Clinician Corner: The Importance of the Family Meeting Access the Provider Directory ...
Palliative care for patients with non-malignant respiratory disease.
McVeigh, Clare
Non-malignant respiratory disease is a chronic life-limiting condition that requires holistic palliative care. Patients with non-malignant respiratory disease have a range of biopsychosocial and spiritual needs, which healthcare professionals should recognise and manage effectively. Healthcare professionals have an important role in enabling the delivery of effective palliative care to this group of patients and their carers, and in recognising the many factors that may impede delivery of palliative care. PMID:25942985
Metronomic palliative chemotherapy in maxillary sinus tumor
Patil, Vijay M.; Noronh, Vanita; Joshi, Amit; Karpe, Ashay; Talreja, Vikas; Chandrasekharan, Arun; Dhumal, Sachin; Prabhash, Kumar
Background: Metronomic chemotherapy consisting of methotrexate and celecoxib recently has shown promising results in multiple studies in head and neck cancers. However, these studies have not included patients with maxillary sinus primaries. Hence, the role of palliative metronomic chemotherapy in patients with maxillary sinus carcinoma that is not amenable to radical therapy is unknown. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of carcinoma maxillary sinus patients who received palliative metronomic chemotherapy between August 2011 and August 2014. The demographic details, symptomatology, previous treatment details, indication for palliative chemotherapy, response to therapy, and overall survival (OS) details were extracted. SPSS version 16 was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics have been performed. Survival analysis was done by Kaplan–Meier method. Results: Five patients had received metronomic chemotherapy. The median age was 60 years (range 37–64 years). The proportion of patients surviving at 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months were 40%, 40%, and 20%, respectively. The estimated median OS was 126 days (95% confidence interval 0–299.9 days). The estimated median survival in patients with an event-free period after the last therapy of <6 months was 45 days, whereas it was 409 days in patients with an event-free period postlast therapy above 6 months (P = 0.063). Conclusion: Metronomic chemotherapy in carcinoma maxillary sinus holds promise. It has activity similar to that seen in head and neck cancers and needs to be evaluated further in a larger cohort of patients.
[Implementation of palliative care in Ivory Coast].
Coulibaly, J Didi-Kouko; Datie, A-M; Binlin-Dadie, R; Kouame, I; N'guessan, Zc; Barouan, M-C; Koffi, E; Coulibaly, I; Mensah, J; Yenou, H Memain; Dedomey, E; Echimane, Ka; Plo, Kj; Kouassi, B
Ivory Coast adhered to the strategy of the primary cares of health whose leading principles served basis to the definition of the National politics of sanitary development, exposed in the National plan of sanitary development 1996-2005. The improvement of the quality of the cares is the main objective of this plan. The attack of this objective cannot make itself without the hold in account of the palliative cares that are a component of the cares for the patients affected by chronic and incurable affections, since the diagnosis until the death and even after the death. Conscious of the necessity to develop the palliative cares to improve the quality of life of the patients and their families, the ministry in charge of health, in collaboration with the partners to the development, initiated a project of development of the palliative care in Ivory Coast. It is about an innovating gait in Ivory Coast concerning politics of health. This work has for goal to present the big lines and the setting in which this politics has been put in place. PMID:19423486
Palliative care in patients with lung cancer
Farbicka, Paulina
Lung cancer accounts for 12% of all cancers and has the highest annual rate of mortality in men and women. The overall aim is cure or prolongation of life without evidence of disease. Almost 60% of patients at the moment of diagnosis are not eligible for radical treatment. Therefore soothing and supportive treatment is the only treatment of choice. Patients with lung cancer who have symptoms of dyspnea, chronic cough, severe pain, exhaustion and cachexia syndrome, fear and depression and significantly reduced physical and intellectual activities are qualified for inpatient or home palliative care. Knowledge about various methods used in palliative treatment allows one to alleviate symptoms that occur in an advanced stage of disease with an expected short survival period. Methods of oncological treatment that are often used in patients with advanced lung cancer include radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Drawing attention to the earlier implementation of palliative care is an objective of research carried out during recent years. Advances in surgical and conservative treatment of these patients have contributed to better outcomes and longer survival time. PMID:24596508
The oncological patient in the palliative situation.
Eychmueller, Steffen; Zwahlen, Diana; Fliedner, Monica
Palliative care approaches the patient and his or her suffering with a biopsychosocial-spiritual model. Thus, it is the strength of palliative care to complement the diagnosis driven approach of medical cancer care by a problem and resources-based assessment, participatory care plan, and patient-directed interventions. Interventions need to reflect timely prognosis, target population (the patient, the family carer, the professional), and level of trust and remaining energy. In palliative care the relevance of psycho-oncological aspects in the care of the terminally ill is considerable in the understanding of the overall suffering of patients approaching death and their loved ones and in their care and support. There is little evidence to date in terms of clinical benefit of specific psycho-oncological interventions in the last months or weeks of life, but there is evidence on effects of stress reduction and reduced anxiety if locus of control can stay within the patient as long as possible. One major difficulty in psychosocial research at the end-of-life, however, is defining patient relevant outcomes. PMID:24305769
Healing Environments: Integrative Medicine and Palliative Care in Acute Care Settings.
Estores, Irene M; Frye, Joyce
Conventional medicine is excellent at saving lives; however, it has little to offer to address the physical, mental, and emotional distress associated with life-threatening or life-limiting disease. An integrative approach to palliative care in acute care settings can meet this need by creating healing environments that support patients, families, and health care professionals. Mindful use of language enhances the innate healing response, improves communication, and invites patients and families to participate in their care. Staff should be offered access to skills training to cultivate compassion and mindful practice to enhance both patient and self-care. PMID:26333757
Palliative care in India: Situation assessment and future scope.
Kar, S S; Subitha, L; Iswarya, S
Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification, assessment and treatment of pain, and other problems - physical, psychosocial, and spiritual. It is estimated that in India the total number of people who need palliative care is likely to be 5.4 million people a year. Though palliative care services have been in existence for many years, India ranks at the bottom of the Quality of Death index in overall score. However there has been steady progress in the past few years through community-owned palliative care services. One of the key objectives of the National Programme for prevention and control of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and stroke is to establish and develop capacity for palliative and rehabilitative care. Community models for the provision of home-based palliative care is possible by involving community caregivers and volunteers supervised by nurses trained in palliative care. Training of medical officers and health care professionals, and sensitization of the public through awareness campaigns are vital to improve the scope and coverage of palliative care. Process of translating palliative care plan into action requires strong leadership, competent management, political support and integration across all levels of care. PMID:26837989
[Providing regular relief; considerations for palliative care in the Netherlands].
Crul, B J; van Weel, C
Over the last few decades the attention devoted to the palliative aspects of medicine, particularly those in hospital care, has declined due to the emphasis on medical technology. In Anglo-Saxon countries a review of this development resulted in structured palliative care that benefited terminally ill patients with a progressive fatal disease, especially cancer patients. Due to increasing national and international criticism of both the practice of euthanasia (assumed to be too liberal) and the lack of attention devoted to structured palliative care in the Netherlands, the Dutch government decided to improve the structure of palliative care. The government's viewpoint is based on the assumption that good palliative care that includes adequate pain control benefits patient care and might eventually lead to fewer requests for euthanasia. The improvements to palliative care should be realised by means of improvements in the structure, training and knowledge. Six academic medical clusters have been designated as Centres for the Development of Palliative Care (Dutch acronym: COPZ) for a 5-year period. Each COPZ must develop the various aspects needed to improve palliative care within the region it serves and ensure that its activities are carefully coordinated with those in the other centres. Research will focus on measuring the efficacy of palliative care as well as ethical and epidemiological aspects. A government committee will assess the appropriateness of the activities undertaken by each of the centres. PMID:11695096
Palliative care and neurology: time for a paradigm shift.
Boersma, Isabel; Miyasaki, Janis; Kutner, Jean; Kluger, Benzi
Palliative care is an approach to the care of patients and families facing progressive and chronic illnesses that focuses on the relief of suffering due to physical symptoms, psychosocial issues, and spiritual distress. As neurologists care for patients with chronic, progressive, life-limiting, and disabling conditions, it is important that they understand and learn to apply the principles of palliative medicine. In this article, we aim to provide a practical starting point in palliative medicine for neurologists by answering the following questions: (1) What is palliative care and what is hospice care? (2) What are the palliative care needs of neurology patients? (3) Do neurology patients have unique palliative care needs? and (4) How can palliative care be integrated into neurology practice? We cover several fundamental palliative care skills relevant to neurologists, including communication of bad news, symptom assessment and management, advance care planning, caregiver assessment, and appropriate referral to hospice and other palliative care services. We conclude by suggesting areas for future educational efforts and research. PMID:24991027
Developing the Cambridge palliative audit schedule (CAMPAS): a palliative care audit for primary health care teams.
Rogers, M S; Barclay, S I; Todd, C J
BACKGROUND: Problems with the provision of palliative care have been reported. Audit is one means of improving care. Earlier audits of primary care palliative care have been initiated by general practitioners (GPs) and are predominantly retrospective record reviews. Widely applicable methods for the audit of primary care palliative care do not exist. AIM: To develop relevant palliative care standards and to devise an audit schedule (the Cambridge palliative audit schedule, CAMPAS) suitable for monitoring palliative care in diverse primary care settings. METHOD: Primary health care team (PHCT) members collaborated at all stages. Reasonable outcomes and acceptable interventions for PHCTs were identified and standards developed. Each standard was constructed to ensure uniform interpretation, and CAMPAS was structured to collect data necessary for determining whether the standards were met. RESULTS: Over 50% of PHCTs (n = 20) in the health district were recruited and trained to use CAMPAS. A total of 876 contacts with 29 patients was recorded by PHCTs using CAMPAS. Considerable inter- and intra-PHCT variation was found in the achievement of the standards. CONCLUSIONS: The favourable participation rate suggests commitment to audit and improvement in patient care. Overall, the standards were reported to be suitable. Although 100% achievement of some standards may be unrealistic, the level of attainment for many suggests that it is possible. CAMPAS has been reported to be a useful structure for recording assessments and monitoring care, as well as a usable audit schedule. As an audit tool, it identified areas in need of improvement and facilitated feed-back to participants. Future audit is required to determine whether improvements in care have been effected. PMID:9692279
A Three Decade Evolution to Transdisciplinary Research: Community Health Research in California-Mexico Border Communities
Elder, John P.; Ayala, Guadalupe X.; McKenzie, Thomas L.; Litrownik, Alan J.; Gallo, Linda C.; Arredondo, Elva M.; Talavera, Gregory A.; Kaplan, Robert M.
Background The Institute for Behavioral and Community Health (IBACH) is a transdisciplinary organization with a team-oriented approach to the translation of research to practice and policy within the context of behavioral medicine. Objectives This paper tracks the growth of IBACH — in the context of evolving multi-university transdisciplinary research efforts — from a behavioral medicine research focus to community approaches to disease prevention and control, ultimately specializing in Latino health research and practice. We describe how this growth was informed by our partnerships with community members and organizations, and training a diverse array of students and young professionals. Methods Since 1982, IBACH's research has evolved to address a greater breadth of factors associated with health and well-being. This was driven by our strong community focus and emphasis on collaborations, the diversity of our investigative teams, and our emphasis on training. Although behavioral science still forms the core of IBACH's scientific orientation, research efforts extend beyond those traditionally examined. Conclusions IBACH's "team science" successes have been fueled by a specific population emphasis making IBACH one of the nation's leaders in Latino health behavior research. PMID:25435566
An Integrative, Multilevel, and Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Challenges of Work, Family, and Health
Bray, Jeremy W.; Kelly, Erin L.; Hammer, Leslie B.; Almeida, David M.; Dearing, James W.; King, Rosalind B.; Buxton, Orfeu M.
Recognizing a need for rigorous, experimental research to support the efforts of workplaces and policymakers in improving the health and wellbeing of employees and their families, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention formed the Work, Family & Health Network (WFHN). The WFHN is implementing an innovative multisite study with a rigorous experimental design (adaptive randomization, control groups), comprehensive multilevel measures, a novel and theoretically based intervention targeting the psychosocial work environment, and translational activities. This paper describes challenges and benefits of designing a multilevel and transdisciplinary research network that includes an effectiveness study to assess intervention effects on employees, families, and managers; a daily diary study to examine effects on family functioning and daily stress; a process study to understand intervention implementation; and translational research to understand and inform diffusion of innovation. Challenges were both conceptual and logistical, spanning all aspects of study design and implementation. In dealing with these challenges, however, the WFHN developed innovative, transdisciplinary, multi-method approaches to conducting workplace research that will benefit both the research and business communities. PMID:24618878
VALUE: A trans-disciplinary research project - and some challenges in its implementation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Huebener, Heike
The EU-COST-action VALUE ("Validating and Integrating Downscaling Methods for Climate Change Research") is composed as a trans-disciplinary network activity, meaning that stakeholders and end-users not only from different scientific disciplines (i.e. inter-disciplinary research) but also from outside science are included in the design, planning and progress of the project. This gives the optimal chance to produce really workable project results for the intended end-users. However, some considerable challenges lie this way. These challenges start with identifying and motivating the target-stakeholders, they cover communication in different user-specific languages and reach as far as the question of the freedom of research when under the prompting of politics or economy. We will cover only some of the mentioned challenges; focusing on the identification of the target-stakeholders or end-users, their motivation to participate in the project and on some typical problems arising in this constellation. First experiences from the project will be presented. The aim of the presentation is to instigate discussion on developing workable project structures for trans-disciplinary research, as this will become more and more relevant in future research funding.
An Integrative, Multilevel, and Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Challenges of Work, Family, and Health.
Bray, Jeremy W; Kelly, Erin L; Hammer, Leslie B; Almeida, David M; Dearing, James W; King, Rosalind B; Buxton, Orfeu M
Recognizing a need for rigorous, experimental research to support the efforts of workplaces and policymakers in improving the health and wellbeing of employees and their families, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention formed the Work, Family & Health Network (WFHN). The WFHN is implementing an innovative multisite study with a rigorous experimental design (adaptive randomization, control groups), comprehensive multilevel measures, a novel and theoretically based intervention targeting the psychosocial work environment, and translational activities. This paper describes challenges and benefits of designing a multilevel and transdisciplinary research network that includes an effectiveness study to assess intervention effects on employees, families, and managers; a daily diary study to examine effects on family functioning and daily stress; a process study to understand intervention implementation; and translational research to understand and inform diffusion of innovation. Challenges were both conceptual and logistical, spanning all aspects of study design and implementation. In dealing with these challenges, however, the WFHN developed innovative, transdisciplinary, multi-method approaches to conducting workplace research that will benefit both the research and business communities. PMID:24618878
[Use of music in palliative care].
Skrbina, Dijana; Simunović, Dubravka; Santek, Vjerocka; Njegovan-Zvonarević, Tatjana
Man is mortal, which means that as the earthly body perishes being, final. Disease and death will always be an inevitable and integral part of human experience. The way in which we try to identify and respond to the unique and individual needs of the dying is an indication of our maturity as a society. The number of people requiring palliative care is growing. Palliative care does not intend to either accelerate or postpone death she emphasizes the life and looks at dying as a normal process. It is an active form of care for patients with advanced, progressive illness, with the aim of suppressing pain and other symptoms in addition to providing psychological, social and spiritual support which ensures the best possible quality of life for patients and their families. Therefore requires a coordinated and interdisciplinary contribution team. The variety of professions in a team, and determine the needs of patients should be ready to provide physical, psychological, social and spiritual support using methods that result from an interdisciplinary, collaborative team approach. Development of a holistic approach and awareness in the medical and allied professions has led to a renewal of interest in the inclusion of music and other expressive media in contemporary concepts of palliative care, which are consistent with problem areas, clinical manifestations and the needs of patients. Music offers a direct and uncomplicated medium of intimacy, living in a man who listens to her, has a place where words lose their power. Music is like our existence, constantly polarizing and emotionally stimulating, as it touches the medium of the earliest layers of our becoming. The use of music in palliative care has proved very effective for a variety of effects that music creates in patients. These effects are achieved through the use of various musical techniques, such as musical improvisation, songwriting, receiving creative techniques, guided by imagination and music. These techniques
The Changing Role of Palliative Care in the ICU
Aslakson, Rebecca A.; Curtis, J. Randall; Nelson, Judith E.
Objectives Palliative care is an interprofessional specialty as well as an approach to care by all clinicians caring for patients with serious and complex illness. Unlike hospice, palliative care is based not on prognosis but on need and is an essential component of comprehensive care for critically ill patients from the time of ICU admission. In this clinically focused article, we review evidence of opportunities to improve palliative care for critically ill adults, summarize strategies for ICU palliative care improvement, and identify resources to support implementation. Data Sources We searched the MEDLINE database from inception through January 2014. We also searched the Reference Library of The Improving Palliative Care in the ICU Project website sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the Center to Advance Palliative Care, which is updated monthly. We hand-searched reference lists and author files. Study Selection Selected studies included all English-language articles concerning adult patients using the search terms "intensive care" or "critical care" with "palliative care," "supportive care," "end-of-life care," or "ethics." Data Extraction After examination of peer-reviewed original scientific articles, consensus statements, guidelines, and reviews resulting from our literature search, we made final selections based on author consensus. Data Synthesis Existing evidence is organized to address: 1) opportunities to alleviate physical and emotional symptoms, improve communication, and provide support for patients and families; 2) models and specific interventions for improving ICU palliative care; 3) available resources for ICU palliative care improvement; and 4) ongoing challenges and targets for future research. Key domains of ICU palliative care have been defined and operationalized as measures of quality. There is increasing recognition that effective integration of palliative care during acute and chronic critical illness may help patients and
The Seven Trans-Disciplinary Habits of Mind: Extending the TPACK Framework towards 21st Century Learning
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mishra, Punya; Koehler, Matthew J.; Henriksen, Danah
This article examines the concept of transformative learning, with a focus on the importance of trans-disciplinary thinking (cognitive skills that cross disciplines) and new technologies in creating 21st century learning and transformative teaching. The article introduces the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework as a way…
Assessing Cognitive Processes, Instructor Strategies, and the Transdisciplinary Nature of Course Offerings in Post-Secondary Sustainability Education Programs
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Wilson, Dennis L.
The purpose of this case study was to describe, assess, and compare the cognitive level of instruction, course objectives, instructional strategies, assessments, and the transdisciplinary nature of two post-secondary degree programs in sustainability. Instructional strategies in these programs included such methods as class presentations, group…
A Transdisciplinary Team Approach to Achieving Moral Agency across Regular and Special Education in K-12 Schools
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Zaretsky, Lindy
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for integrating social responsibility within the accountability context now prevalent across the regular and special education contexts of Canadian and American schools while exposing readers to many of the different theories that exist concerning transdisciplinary forms of inclusive…
The challenges of transdisciplinary research in health disparities: the early experiences of the centers for population health and health disparities
Technology Transfer Automated Retrieval System (TEKTRAN)
In 2003, NIH funded 8 Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities (CPHHD). The mission of these centers is to understand and reduce health disparities using a transdisciplinary approach with community partners as co-investigators. The present study aims to identify early challenges experi...
How Many Brains Does It Take to Build a New Light: Knowledge Management Challenges of a Transdisciplinary Project
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
della Chiesa, Bruno; Christoph, Vanessa; Hinton, Christina
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Center for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) carried out the "Learning Sciences and Brain Research" project (1999-2007) to investigate how neuroscience research can inform education policy and practice. This transdisciplinary project brought many challenges. Within the…
Teaching and Learning Reflexive Skills in Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research: A Framework and Its Application in Environmental Science Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Fortuin, K. P. J.; van Koppen, C. S. A.
A crucial skill for researchers in inter- and transdisciplinary environmental projects is the ability to be reflexive about knowledge and knowledge production. Few studies exist on the operationalization of reflexive skills and teaching and learning strategies that help students master these skills. This research aims to contribute in this…
A Functional, Holistic Approach to Developmental Assessment through Play: The Transdisciplinary Play-Based Assessment, Second Edition
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Linder, Toni; Linas, Keri
Early intervention and early childhood special education professionals espouse the need for authentic assessment and meaningful family involvement, as well as relationship-based and routines-based intervention. This article explores a play-based approach to assessment that reflects these values by using the Transdisciplinary Play-Based Assessment,…
Employer Practices in Improving Employment Outcomes for People with Disabilities: A Transdisciplinary and Employer-Inclusive Research Approach
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Barrington, Linda; Bruyère, M.; Waelder, Margaret
Objective: Share new knowledge about workplace practices related to employer success in hiring, retaining, and promoting people with disabilities, and promote use of findings to employers and service providers. Design: A transdisciplinary and multifaceted data gathering approach. Results: Provides an overview of the research approach taken and the…
Academic Institutions and One Health: Building Capacity for Transdisciplinary Research Approaches to Address Complex Health Issues at the Animal–Human–Ecosystem Interface
Allen-Scott, Lisa K.; Buntain, Bonnie; Hatfield, Jennifer M.; Meisser, Andrea
To improve health at the human, animal, and ecosystem interface, defined as One Health, training of researchers must transcend individual disciplines to develop a new process of collaboration. The transdisciplinary research approach integrates frameworks and methodologies beyond academic disciplines and includes involvement of and input from policy makers and members of the community. The authors argue that there should be a significant shift in academic institutions' research capacity to achieve the added value of a transdisciplinary approach for addressing One Health problems. This Perspective is a call to action for academic institutions to provide the foundations for this salient shift. The authors begin by describing the transdisciplinary approach, propose methods for building transdisciplinary research capacity, and highlight three value propositions that support the case. Examples are provided to illustrate how the transdisciplinary approach to research adds value through improved sustainability of impact, increased cost-effectiveness, and enhanced abilities to mitigate potentially harmful unintended consequences. The authors conclude with three key recommendations for academic institutions: (1) a focus on creating enabling environments for One Health and transdisciplinary research, (2) the development of novel funding structures for transdisciplinary research, and (3) training of "transmitters" using real-world-oriented educational programs that break down research silos through collaboration across disciplines. PMID:25650827
ASBO's Certificate of Excellence Program: 15 years of Professional Excellence.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gatti, Bernard
Presents the history, advantages, and requirements of the Association of School Business Officials' Certificate of Excellence Program. Receiving a Certificate of Excellence provides evidence of the integrity and technical competence of a school system's fiscal administration to the board members and superintendent. (MLF)
Transforming children's palliative care-from ideas to action: highlights from the first ICPCN conference on children's palliative care.
Downing, J; Marston, J; Muckaden, Ma; Boucher, S; Cardoz, M; Nkosi, B; Steel, B; Talawadekar, P; Tilve, P
The International Children's Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) held its first international conference on children's palliative care, in conjunction with Tata Memorial Centre, in Mumbai, India, from 10-12 February 2014. The theme of the conference, Transforming children's palliative care-from ideas to action, reflected the vision of the ICPCN to live in a world where every child who needs it, can access palliative care, regardless of where they live. Key to this is action, to develop service provision and advocate for children's palliative care. Three pre-conference workshops were held on 9 February, aimed at doctors, nurses, social workers, and volunteers, and focused around the principles of children's palliative care, and in particular pain and symptom management. The conference brought together 235 participants representing 38 countries. Key themes identified throughout the conference included: the need for advocacy and leadership; for education and research, with great strides having been taken in the development of an evidence base for children's palliative care, along with the provision of education; the importance of communication and attention to spirituality in children, and issues around clinical care, in particular for neonates. Delegates were continually challenged to transform children's palliative care in their parts of the world and the conference culminated in the signing of the ICPCN Mumbai Declaration. The Declaration calls upon governments around the world to improve access to quality children's palliative care services and made a call on the Belgian government not to pass a bill allowing children to be euthanised in that country. The conference highlighted many of the ongoing developments in children's palliative care around the world, and as she closed the conference, Joan Marston (ICPCN CEO) challenged participants to take positive action and be the champions that the children need, thus transforming children's palliative care. PMID:24761156
Are Undergraduate Nurses Taught Palliative Care during Their Training?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lloyd-Williams, Mari; Field, David
Responses from 46 of 108 nurse educators in the United Kingdom indicated that diploma students received a mean of 7.8 hours and degree students 12.2 hours of palliative care training. Although 82% believed it should be a core component, 67% had difficulty finding qualified teachers. Palliative care knowledge was not formally assessed in most…
Access to palliative medicine training for Canadian family medicine residents.
Oneschuk, D; Bruera, E
The authors conducted a nine-item mail questionnaire of the 16 Canadian family medicine teaching programme directors to determine the accessibility and operation of palliative care education for their respective family medicine residents. All 16 faculties of medicine responded (100%). The survey revealed that while all universities offer elective time in palliative care only five out of 16 (31%) have a mandatory rotation. The median durations of the mandatory and elective rotations are limited to two and three-and-a-half weeks, respectively. The majority of the universities offer formal lectures in palliative care (12/16, 75%) and educational reading material (13/16, 81%), with the main format in 14/16 (87%) of the sites being case-based learning. The two most common sites for teaching to occur for the residents are the community/outpatient environment and an acute palliative care unit. Fifty-six per cent (9/16) of the universities have designated faculty positions for palliative medicine with a median number of two positions per site. Only one centre offers a specific palliative medicine examination during the rotation. Feedback from the residents regarding their respective palliative medicine programmes were positive overall. Findings from our survey indicate an ongoing need for improved education in palliative medicine at the postgraduate level. PMID:9616456
Incorporating the Arts and Humanities in Palliative Medicine Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Marchand, Lucille R.
The arts and humanities allow the teaching of palliative medicine to come alive by exploring what is often regarded as the most frightening outcome of the illness experience--death and dying. Palliative medicine focuses on the relief of suffering, but how can suffering be understood if the story of the patient is not told through prose, poetry,…
[Extending the palliative approach across the French health system].
Mino, Jean-Christophe
The care provision for people at the end of life requires a palliative care approach to be extended across the whole healthcare system. Access to palliative care for everyone requires training for professionals, support for specialised structures and teams as well as clear political will. PMID:26567066
Are family medicine residents adequately trained to deliver palliative care?
Mahtani, Ramona; Kurahashi, Allison M.; Buchman, Sandy; Webster, Fiona; Husain, Amna; Goldman, Russell
Objective To explore educational factors that influence family medicine residents' (FMRs') intentions to offer palliative care and palliative care home visits to patients. Design Qualitative descriptive study. Setting A Canadian, urban, specialized palliative care centre. Participants First-year (n = 9) and second-year (n = 6) FMRs. Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with FMRs following a 4-week palliative care rotation. Questions focused on participant experiences during the rotation and perceptions about their roles as family physicians in the delivery of palliative care and home visits. Participant responses were analyzed to summarize and interpret patterns related to their educational experience during their rotation. Main findings Four interrelated themes were identified that described this experience: foundational skill development owing to training in a specialized setting; additional need for education and support; unaddressed gaps in pragmatic skills; and uncertainty about family physicians' role in palliative care. Conclusion Residents described experiences that both supported and inadvertently discouraged them from considering future engagement in palliative care. Reassuringly, residents were also able to underscore opportunities for improvement in palliative care education. PMID:27035008
Integrating palliative care with usual care of diabetic foot wounds.
Dunning, Trisha
Palliative care is a philosophy and a system for deciding care and can be used alone or integrated with usual chronic disease care. Palliative care encompasses end-of-life care. Palliative care aims to enhance quality of life, optimize function and manage symptoms including early in the course of chronic diseases. The purposes of this article are to outline palliative care and discuss how it can be integrated with usual care of diabetic foot wounds. Many people with diabetes who have foot wounds also have other comorbidities and diabetes complications such as cardiovascular and renal disease and depression, which affect medicine and other treatment choices, functional status, surgical risk and quality of life. Two broad of diabetic foot disease exist: those likely to heal but who could still benefit from integrated palliative care such as managing pain and those where healing is unlikely where palliation can be the primary focus. People with diabetes can die suddenly, although the life course is usually long with periods of stable and unstable disease. Many health professionals are reluctant to discuss palliative care or suggest people to document their end-of-life care preferences. If such preferences are not documented, the person might not achieve their desired death or place of death and health professionals and families can be confronted with difficult decisions. Palliative care can be integrated with usual foot care and is associated with improved function, better quality of life and greater patient and family satisfaction. PMID:26813620
Palliative Care in the Emergency Department.
McEwan, Alyssia; Silverberg, Joshua Z
As the geriatric population increases in the United States, there is an increase in number of visits to emergency departments for end-of-life and palliative care. This provides the emergency physician with a unique opportunity to alleviate and prevent further suffering in this vulnerable population. Competency in communication strategies that support shared decision making and familiarity with medicolegal terminology increase physician confidence about addressing complaints at the end of life. Familiarity with evidence-based recommendations for symptom management of pain at the end of life aids the emergency physician in creating a positive experience for the patient and their loved ones. PMID:27475020
Managing lymphoedema in palliative care patients.
Todd, Marie
The development of lymphoedema in advanced disease is distressing for patients and their carers and can prove difficult to manage for health-care professionals involved in their care. This article will provide an overview of co-morbidities that cancer patients face that will have an impact on the development, progression or management of lymphoedema. The principles of assessing and managing lymphoedema in palliative care patients is presented, based on the Scottish governments action plan Living and Dying Well. The need for collaboration with other members of the multi-disciplinary team to provide the seamless, patient-centred service advocated in this action plan is also presented. PMID:19377392
The palliation of dyspnea in terminal disease.
Zeppetella, G
Dyspnea is a complex subjective experience that is common in terminal illness. Patients may present at any time during the course of their illness, although prevalence increases with disease progression. Dyspnea has physical, psychological, social and spiritual components; without recognizing how each of these contributes to the total suffering of dyspnea, management is unlikely to be successful. The management of dyspnea involves both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment. The main pharmacological palliative treatments are oxygen, opioids, and benzodiazepines, but the evidence to support these treatments is limited. More research is urgently needed to establish the efficacy of current treatments and to identify new ones. PMID:9866455
[Recommendations for the palliative care of dying neonates].
Cignacco, E; Stoffel, L; Raio, L; Schneider, H; Nelle, M
Neonates and infants have the highest mortality rate in the pediatric patient population, but there is a paucity of data about their palliative care. Most neonate deaths occur during the first week of life so it is mostly the staff of NICUS's and obstetrical wards who are confronted with the palliative care of dying neonates. Clinical experience shows that many aspects of care in palliative situations are not well known to the health care providers. This is especially true for pain assessment and pain treatment during the dying process. A search of the literature on this subject resulted in only a few publications; hence, this article basically describes clinical experience in the palliative care of neonates. In this article some recommendations for decision-making and standardization of palliative care for dying neonates are presented. PMID:15326558
Outcome measures for palliative oxygen therapy: relevance and practical utility.
Antoniu, Sabina; Mihaltan, Florin
Dyspnea is a common symptom in many advanced malignant and non-malignant diseases and often is refractory to the usual therapies. In such circumstances palliative care approaches are necessary and among them palliative care oxygen therapy can be applied although currently its effectiveness is rather uncertain. Palliative oxygen therapy can be given on either continuous basis or on demand. Often the continuous palliative oxygen therapy is seen as long-term oxygen therapy although their aims are rather different. Palliative oxygen therapy was evaluated in populations with mixed underlying diseases, with outcome measures not only the most appropriate for the setting and therefore these limitations might have influenced the overall perceived therapeutic benefit. Therefore an evaluation of this method in subsets defined based on the etiology and pathogenic mechanisms and with appropriate outcome measures would help to better define the criteria for its indication and would increase its acceptability. PMID:24741999
Inadequacy of Palliative Training in the Medical School Curriculum.
Chiu, Nicholas; Cheon, Paul; Lutz, Stephen; Lao, Nicholas; Pulenzas, Natalie; Chiu, Leonard; McDonald, Rachel; Rowbottom, Leigha; Chow, Edward
This report examines the literature on palliative training in the current medical school curriculum. A literature search was conducted to identify relevant articles. Physicians and medical students both report feeling that their training in end-of-life care and in palliative issues is lacking. The literature expresses concerns about the varied and non-uniform approach to palliative care training across medical schools. The authors recommend the development of more palliative training assessment tools in order to aid in the standardization of curriculum involving end-of-life care. In addition, increased exposure to dying patients will aid students in building comfort with palliative care issues. Such a goal may be accomplished through required clerkships or other similar programs. PMID:25487030
Palliative Care: A Partnership Across the Continuum of Care.
Spaulding, Aaron; Harrison, Debra A; Harrison, Jeffrey P
Palliative care services are becoming more prevalent in the United States as greater portions of the population are requiring end-of-life services. Furthermore, recent policy changes and service foci have promoted more continuity and encompassing care. This study evaluates characteristics that distinguish hospitals with a palliative care program from hospitals without such a program in order to better define the markets and environments that promote the creation and usage of these programs. This study demonstrates that palliative care programs are more likely in communities with favorable economic factors and higher Medicare populations. Large hospitals with high occupancy rates and a high case mix index use palliative care programs to better meet patient needs and improve hospital efficiency. Managerial, nursing, and policy implications are discussed relating to further usage and implementation of palliative care programs. PMID:27455361
Pediatric End-of-Life Issues and Palliative Care
Michelson, Kelly Nicole; Steinhorn, David M.
Optimizing the quality of medical care at the end of life has achieved national status as an important health care goal. Palliative care, a comprehensive approach to treating the physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients and their families facing life-limiting illnesses, requires the coordinated efforts of a multidisciplinary group of caregivers. Understanding the basic principles of palliative care can aid emergency department staff in identifying patients who could benefit from palliative care services and in managing the challenging situations that arise when such patients present to the hospital for care. In this article we present the overall philosophy of pediatric palliative care, describe key elements of quality palliative care, and identify additional referral sources readers can access for more information. PMID:18438449
Chronic pain in the outpatient palliative care clinic.
Merlin, Jessica S; Childers, Julie; Arnold, Robert M
Chronic pain is common. Many patients with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses have chronic pain that is related to their disease, and some have comorbid chronic nonmalignant chronic pain. As palliative care continues to move upstream and outpatient palliative care programs develop, palliative care clinicians will be called upon to treat chronic pain. Chronic pain differs from acute pain in the setting of advanced disease and a short prognosis in terms of its etiology, comorbidities-especially psychiatric illness and substance abuse-and management. To successfully care for these patients, palliative care providers will need to learn new clinical competencies. This article will review chronic pain management core competencies for palliative care providers. PMID:22556285
Grassroots Excellence: Problems and Progress.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hansen, Kenneth H.
The educational "excellence" movement is hindered by inconsistencies between goals and action and by difficulties in translating national and state goals into local policy; nonetheless, progress has occurred. Examples of "voodoo excellence," in which proposed policies will likely work against their stated objectives, are widespread. While…
Creating a transdisciplinary research center to reduce cardiovascular health disparities in Baltimore, Maryland: lessons learned.
Cooper, Lisa A; Boulware, L Ebony; Miller, Edgar R; Golden, Sherita Hill; Carson, Kathryn A; Noronha, Gary; Huizinga, Mary Margaret; Roter, Debra L; Yeh, Hsin-Chieh; Bone, Lee R; Levine, David M; Hill-Briggs, Felicia; Charleston, Jeanne; Kim, Miyong; Wang, Nae-Yuh; Aboumatar, Hanan; Halbert, Jennifer P; Ephraim, Patti L; Brancati, Frederick L
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) disparities continue to have a negative impact on African Americans in the United States, largely because of uncontrolled hypertension. Despite the availability of evidence-based interventions, their use has not been translated into clinical and public health practice. The Johns Hopkins Center to Eliminate Cardiovascular Health Disparities is a new transdisciplinary research program with a stated goal to lower the impact of CVD disparities on vulnerable populations in Baltimore, Maryland. By targeting multiple levels of influence on the core problem of disparities in Baltimore, the center leverages academic, community, and national partnerships and a novel structure to support 3 research studies and to train the next generation of CVD researchers. We also share the early lessons learned in the center's design. PMID:24028238
Fostering Social Determinants of Health Transdisciplinary Research: The Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health
Elliott, Amy J.; White Hat, Emily R.; Angal, Jyoti; Grey Owl, Victoria; Puumala, Susan E.; Baete Kenyon, DenYelle
The Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health (CRCAIH) was established in September 2012 as a unifying structure to bring together tribal communities and health researchers across South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota to address American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) health disparities. CRCAIH is based on the core values of transdisciplinary research, sustainability and tribal sovereignty. All CRCAIH resources and activities revolve around the central aim of assisting tribes with establishing and advancing their own research infrastructures and agendas, as well as increasing AI/AN health research. CRCAIH is comprised of three divisions (administrative; community engagement and innovation; research projects), three technical cores (culture, science and bioethics; regulatory knowledge; and methodology), six tribal partners and supports numerous multi-year and one-year pilot research projects. Under the ultimate goal of improving health for AI/AN, this paper describes the overarching vision and structure of CRCAIH, highlighting lessons learned in the first three years. PMID:26703683
Fostering Social Determinants of Health Transdisciplinary Research: The Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health.
Elliott, Amy J; White Hat, Emily R; Angal, Jyoti; Grey Owl, Victoria; Puumala, Susan E; Baete Kenyon, DenYelle
The Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health (CRCAIH) was established in September 2012 as a unifying structure to bring together tribal communities and health researchers across South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota to address American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) health disparities. CRCAIH is based on the core values of transdisciplinary research, sustainability and tribal sovereignty. All CRCAIH resources and activities revolve around the central aim of assisting tribes with establishing and advancing their own research infrastructures and agendas, as well as increasing AI/AN health research. CRCAIH is comprised of three divisions (administrative; community engagement and innovation; research projects), three technical cores (culture, science and bioethics; regulatory knowledge; and methodology), six tribal partners and supports numerous multi-year and one-year pilot research projects. Under the ultimate goal of improving health for AI/AN, this paper describes the overarching vision and structure of CRCAIH, highlighting lessons learned in the first three years. PMID:26703683
Japanese Bereaved Family Members' Perspectives of Palliative Care Units and Palliative Care: J-HOPE Study Results.
Kinoshita, Satomi; Miyashita, Mitsunori; Morita, Tatsuya; Sato, Kazuki; Shoji, Ayaka; Chiba, Yurika; Miyazaki, Tamana; Tsuneto, Satoru; Shima, Yasuo
The study purpose was to understand the perspectives of bereaved family members regarding palliative care unit (PCU) and palliative care and to compare perceptions of PCU before admission and after bereavement. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted, and the perceptions of 454 and 424 bereaved family members were obtained regarding PCU and palliative care, respectively. Family members were significantly more likely to have positive perceptions after bereavement (ranging from 73% to 80%) compared to before admission (ranging from 62% to 71%). Bereaved family members who were satisfied with medical care in the PCU had a positive perception of the PCU and palliative care after bereavement. Respondents younger than 65 years of age were significantly more likely to have negative perceptions of PCU and palliative care. PMID:25852202
Children's palliative care now! Highlights from the second ICPCN conference on children's palliative care, 18–21 May 2016, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Downing, J; Kiman, R; Boucher, S; Nkosi, B; Steel, B; Marston, C; Lascar, E; Marston, J
The International Children's Palliative Care Network held its second international conference on children's palliative care in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from the 18th–21st May 2016. The theme of the conference was 'Children's Palliative Care…. Now!' emphasising the need for palliative care for children now, as the future will be too late for many of them. Six pre-conference workshops were held, addressing issues connected to pain assessment and management, adolescent palliative care, ethics and decision-making, developing programmes, the basics of children's palliative care, and hidden aspects of children's palliative care. The conference brought together 410 participants from 40 countries. Plenary, concurrent, and poster presentations covered issues around the status of children's palliative care, genetics, perinatal and neonatal palliative care, the impact of children's palliative care and the experiences of parents and volunteers, palliative care as a human right, education in children's palliative care, managing complex pain in children, spiritual care and when to initiate palliative care. The 'Big Debate' explored issues around decision-making and end of life care in children, and gave participants the opportunity to explore a sensitive and thought provoking topic. At the end of the conference, delegates were urged to sign the Commitment of Buenos Aires which called for governments to implement the WHA resolution and ensure access to palliative care for neonates, children and their families, and also commits us as palliative care providers to share all that we can and collaborate with each other to achieve the global vision of palliative care for all children who need it. The conference highlighted the ongoing issues in children's palliative care and participants were continually challenged to ensure that children can access palliative care NOW. PMID:27610193
Children's palliative care now! Highlights from the second ICPCN conference on children's palliative care, 18-21 May 2016, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Downing, J; Kiman, R; Boucher, S; Nkosi, B; Steel, B; Marston, C; Lascar, E; Marston, J
The International Children's Palliative Care Network held its second international conference on children's palliative care in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from the 18th-21st May 2016. The theme of the conference was 'Children's Palliative Care…. Now!' emphasising the need for palliative care for children now, as the future will be too late for many of them. Six pre-conference workshops were held, addressing issues connected to pain assessment and management, adolescent palliative care, ethics and decision-making, developing programmes, the basics of children's palliative care, and hidden aspects of children's palliative care. The conference brought together 410 participants from 40 countries. Plenary, concurrent, and poster presentations covered issues around the status of children's palliative care, genetics, perinatal and neonatal palliative care, the impact of children's palliative care and the experiences of parents and volunteers, palliative care as a human right, education in children's palliative care, managing complex pain in children, spiritual care and when to initiate palliative care. The 'Big Debate' explored issues around decision-making and end of life care in children, and gave participants the opportunity to explore a sensitive and thought provoking topic. At the end of the conference, delegates were urged to sign the Commitment of Buenos Aires which called for governments to implement the WHA resolution and ensure access to palliative care for neonates, children and their families, and also commits us as palliative care providers to share all that we can and collaborate with each other to achieve the global vision of palliative care for all children who need it. The conference highlighted the ongoing issues in children's palliative care and participants were continually challenged to ensure that children can access palliative care NOW. PMID:27610193
Facing policy challenges with inter- and transdisciplinary soil research focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bouma, Johan; Montanarella, Luca
Our current information society, populated by increasingly well-informed and critical stakeholders, presents a challenge to both the policy and science arenas. The introduction of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offers a unique and welcome opportunity to direct joint activities towards these goals. Soil science, even though it is not mentioned as such, plays an important role in realizing a number of SDGs focusing on food, water, climate, health, biodiversity, and sustainable land use. A plea is made for a systems approach to land use studies, to be initiated by soil scientists, in which these land-related SDGs are considered in an integrated manner. To connect with policy makers and stakeholders, two approaches are functional. The first of these is the policy cycle when planning and executing research, which includes signaling, design, decision making, implementation, and evaluation. Many current research projects spend little time on signaling, which may lead to disengagement of stakeholders. Also, implementation is often seen as the responsibility of others, while it is crucial to demonstrate - if successful - the relevance of soil science. The second approach is the DPSIR approach when following the policy cycle in land-related research, distinguishing external drivers, pressures, impact, and responses to land use change that affect the state of the land in the past, present, and future. Soil science cannot by itself realize SDGs, and interdisciplinary studies on ecosystem services (ESs) provide an appropriate channel to define contributions of soil science in terms of the seven soil functions. ESs, in turn, can contribute to addressing the six SDGs (2, 3, 6, 12, 13, and 15) with an environmental, land-related character. SDGs have a societal focus and future soil science research can only be successful if stakeholders are part of the research effort in transdisciplinary projects, based on the principle of time-consuming "joint learning". The
Pioneering the Transdisciplinary Team Science Approach: Lessons Learned from National Cancer Institute Grantees
Vogel, Amanda L; Stipelman, Brooke A; Hall, Kara L; Nebeling, Linda; Stokols, Daniel; Spruijt-Metz, Donna
The National Cancer Institute has been a leader in supporting transdisciplinary (TD) team science. From 2005-2010, the NCI supported Transdisciplinary Research on Energetic and Cancer I (TREC I), a center initiative fostering the TD integration of social, behavioral, and biological sciences to examine the relationships among obesity, nutrition, physical activity and cancer. In the final year of TREC I, we conducted qualitative in-depth-interviews with 31 participating investigators and trainees to learn more about their experiences with TD team science, including challenges, facilitating factors, strategies for success, and impacts. Five main challenges emerged: (1) limited published guidance for how to engage in TD team science, when TREC I was implemented; (2) conceptual and scientific challenges inherent to efforts to achieve TD integration; (3) discipline-based differences in values, terminology, methods, and work styles; (4) project management challenges involved in TD team science; and (5) traditional incentive and reward systems that do not recognize or reward TD team science. Four main facilitating factors and strategies for success emerged: (1) beneficial attitudes and beliefs about TD research and team science; (2) effective team processes; (3) brokering and bridge-building activities by individuals holding particular roles in a research center; and (4) funding initiative characteristics that support TD team science. Broad impacts of participating in TD team science in the context of TREC I included: (1) new positive attitudes about TD research and team science; (2) new boundary-crossing collaborations; (3) scientific advances related to research approaches, findings, and dissemination; (4) institutional culture change and resource creation in support of TD team science; and (5) career advancement. Funding agencies, academic institutions, and scholarly journals can help to foster TD team science through funding opportunities, institutional policies on
Water and Social Justice in Bangladesh: A Transdisciplinary and Intercultural Approach
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gilligan, J. M.; Ackerly, B.; Ahmed, K.; Benneyworth, L.; Goodbred, S. L.; Hall, M.; Jacobi, J. H.; Mondal, D. R.; Pickering, J.; Rogers, K. G.; Roy, K.; Wallace Auerbach, L.
Effectively addressing environmental problems---at local, national, and global scales---requires actively crossing disciplinary boundaries between natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, and policymaking. The best technical solution is useless if it cannot win political support from the people it is intended to help. Enacted policies are too often hindered either by misunderstanding or ignorance of scientific and technical aspects of the problem or by misunderstanding the behavior of the population they address. Environmental problems at the international scale also require understanding of cultural and social differences across national boundaries. To prepare graduate students to be professionally effective at addressing major environmental problems, Vanderbilt University has created a transdisciplinary, intercultural course that brings students from the US and Bangladesh together, both through online connections such as blogs and Skype sessions, and in person in a week-long joint field trip in which students and faculty from universities in both countries, and representing many disciplines work side-by-side to study water as both a natural resource and a natural hazard. Activities included studying sources of drinking water, observing areas affected by flooding from cyclone storm surges, cataloging physical infrastructure, and conducting interviews with residents of vulnerable areas. Few if any students can simultaneously master the social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering skills necessary to comprehensively address major environmental problems, but students can learn to work and communicate effectively with peers in other disciplines, working together to understand the complex interactions between different aspects of their problem. We will report on the structure of the course; our experiences as faculty and student participants; and connections between this class, graduate curricula in environmental sciences, and international
Using cannabinoids in pain and palliative care.
Peat, Sue
Interest in the use of cannabinoids in a clinical setting is gradually increasing, particularly in patients where more conventional treatments have failed. They have been reported as offering perceived benefits in a wide range of conditions, but the major interest at present is centred on their place in pain management and in the palliation of symptoms secondary to terminal cancer and neurological disease. The potential benefits include symptomatic relief for patients suffering from intractable neuropathic pain, anorexia, anxiety and muscle spasm. There is clear consensus that cannibinoids should not be used as a first-line monotherapy, but should be considered as valuable adjuvants to more commonly indicated therapeutic options in the management of palliative care patients. Scientific evidence documenting the benefits of the canibinoids nabilone and sativex is accumulating, but needs to be evaluated carefully in the light of the paucity of available data. Both drugs are usually used under the guidance of specialist units. Nabilone and Sativex are now controlled drugs, and are frequently used outside of their licensed indication (control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting) and hence particular care needs to be taken in evaluating the rational for their use. Sativex has been recently licenced for use in the management of patients with multiple sclerosis. PMID:20972379
Palliative Care in the Emergency Department
Mierendorf, Susanne M; Gidvani, Vinita
The Emergency Department (ED) is the place where people most frequently seek urgent care. For patients living with chronic disease or malignancy who may be in a crisis, this visit may be pivotal in determining the patients' trajectory. There is a large movement in education of emergency medicine physicians, hospitalists, and intensivists from acute aggressive interventions to patient-goal assessment, recognizing last stages of life and prioritizing symptom management. Although the ED is not considered an ideal place to begin palliative care, hospital-based physicians may assist in eliciting the patient's goals of care and discussing prognosis and disease trajectory. This may help shift to noncurative treatment. This article will summarize the following: identification of patients who may need palliation, discussing prognosis, eliciting goals of care and directives, symptom management in the ED, and making plans for further care. These efforts have been shown to improve outcomes and to decrease length of stay and cost. The focus of this article is relieving "patient" symptoms and family distress, honoring the patient's goals of care, and assisting in transition to a noncurative approach and placement where this may be accomplished. PMID:24694318
Endoscopic laser palliation for advanced malignant dysphagia.
Bown, S G; Hawes, R; Matthewson, K; Swain, C P; Barr, H; Boulos, P B; Clark, C G
Palliative treatment of malignant dysphagia aims to optimise swallowing for the maximum time possible with the minimum of general distress to these seriously ill patients. Thirty four patients considered unsuitable for surgery because of advanced malignancy, other major pathology or in whom previous surgery had been unsuccessful were treated endoscopically with the Nd YAG laser. Significant improvement was achieved in 29 (85%). On a scale of 0-4 (0 = normal swallowing; 4 = dysphagia for all fluids), mean improvement was 1.7, with 25 patients (74%) able to swallow most, or all solids after treatment. With increasing experience, the average number of treatment sessions required for each patient became less; initial time in hospital became comparable to that needed for intubation. Failures were caused by inappropriate patient selection (3), or laser related perforation (2). The mean survival in the whole group was 19 weeks (range 2-44). Eighteen patients needed further treatment for recurrent dysphagia, a mean of six weeks (range 2-15) after initial therapy. Ten of these responded, but eight eventually required insertion of a prosthetic tube. The duration of good palliation was very variable after initial laser therapy. Images Fig. 3 PMID:2443431
Palliative care of First Nations people
Kelly, Len; Linkewich, Barb; Cromarty, Helen; St Pierre-Hansen, Natalie; Antone, Irwin; Gilles, Chris
ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To understand cross-cultural hospital-based end-of-life care from the perspective of bereaved First Nations family members. DESIGN Phenomenologic approach using qualitative in-depth interviews. SETTING A rural town in northern Ontario with a catchment of 23 000 Ojibway and Cree aboriginal patients. PARTICIPANTS Ten recently bereaved aboriginal family members. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were conducted, audiotaped, and transcribed. Data were analyzed using crystallization and immersion techniques. Triangulation and member-checking methods were used to ensure trustworthiness. MAIN FINDINGS First Nations family members described palliative care as a community and extended family experience. They expressed the need for rooms and services that reflect this, including space to accommodate a larger number of visitors than is usual in Western society. Informants described the importance of communication strategies that involve respectful directness. They acknowledged that all hospital employees had roles in the care of their loved ones. Participants generally described their relatives' relationships with nurses and the care the nurses provided as positive experiences. CONCLUSION Cross-cultural care at the time of death is always challenging. Service delivery and communication strategies must meet cultural and family needs. Respect, communication, appropriate environments, and caregiving were important to participants for culturally appropriate palliative care. PMID:19366951
Vitamin D and patients with palliative cancer.
Björkhem-Bergman, Linda; Bergman, Peter
Vitamin D is a hormone that is synthesised in the skin in the presence of sunlight. Sufficient vitamin D levels are important-not only for a healthy skeleton-but also for a healthy immune system. Many patients with cancer have insufficient vitamin D levels, and low vitamin D levels are associated with increased 'all-cause mortality' and especially mortality due to cancer. Low vitamin D levels have also been associated with increased risk of infections, increased pain, depressive disorders and impaired quality of life. We review the role of vitamin D in the immune system, in relation to cancer disease, pain and depression. We have recently performed an observational study in 100 patients with palliative cancer in Sweden. The main result was that low vitamin D levels were associated with higher opioid dose, that is, more pain. We also describe a case report where vitamin D supplementation resulted in radically decreased opioid dose, less pain and better well-being. Vitamin D supplementation is not connected with any adverse side effects and is easy to administrate. Thus, we hypothesise that vitamin D-supplementation to patients with palliative cancer might be beneficial and could improve their well-being, decrease pain and reduce susceptibility to infections. However, more clinical studies in this field are needed before firm conclusions can be drawn. PMID:27084421
Integrating palliative care into the trajectory of cancer care.
Hui, David; Bruera, Eduardo
Over the past five decades, palliative care has evolved from serving patients at the end of life into a highly specialized discipline focused on delivering supportive care to patients with life-limiting illnesses throughout the disease trajectory. A growing body of evidence is now available to inform the key domains in the practice of palliative care, including symptom management, psychosocial care, communication, decision-making, and end-of-life care. Findings from multiple studies indicate that integrating palliative care early in the disease trajectory can result in improvements in quality of life, symptom control, patient and caregiver satisfaction, illness understanding, quality of end-of-life care, survival, and costs of care. In this narrative Review, we discuss various strategies to integrate oncology and palliative care by optimizing clinical infrastructures, processes, education, and research. The goal of integration is to maximize patient access to palliative care and, ultimately, to improve patient outcomes. We provide a conceptual model for the integration of supportive and/or palliative care with primary and oncological care. We also discuss how health-care systems and institutions need to tailor integration based on their resources, size, and the level of primary palliative care available. PMID:26598947
Enhancing family physician capacity to deliver quality palliative home care
Marshall, Denise; Howell, Doris; Brazil, Kevin; Howard, Michelle; Taniguchi, Alan
ABSTRACT PROBLEM BEING ADDRESSED Family physicians face innumerable challenges to delivering quality palliative home care to meet the complex needs of end-of-life patients and their families. OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM To implement a model of shared care to enhance family physicians' ability to deliver quality palliative home care, particularly in a community-based setting. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Family physicians in 3 group practices (N = 21) in Ontario's Niagara West region collaborated with an interprofessional palliative care team (including a palliative care advanced practice nurse, a palliative medicine physician, a bereavement counselor, a psychosocial-spiritual advisor, and a case manager) in a shared-care partnership to provide comprehensive palliative home care. Key features of the program included systematic and timely identification of end-of-life patients, needs assessments, symptom and psychosocial support interventions, regular communication between team members, and coordinated care guided by outcome-based assessment in the home. In addition, educational initiatives were provided to enhance family physicians' knowledge and skills. CONCLUSION Because of the program, participants reported improved communication, effective interprofessional collaboration, and the capacity to deliver palliative home care, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to end-of-life patients in the community. PMID:19074714
'Living choice': the commitment to tissue donation in palliative care.
Wells, Joanne; Sque, Magi
Professionals working in palliative care pride themselves on respecting patients' views and wishes. Palliative care patients are often aware that they are going to die and so the issue of what is going to happen to them after death becomes more relevant. That they should be involved in decisions about tissue donation seems obvious, yet many palliative care units do not routinely discuss donation with patients and their families. A grounded theory approach was used to develop an explanation of the low commitment to tissue donation by palliative care units. Six registered nurses and two doctors from each of two separate palliative care units participated in semi-structured, audiotaped interviews. Several themes emerged from the interviews to form a theory of why there is a low commitment to tissue donation in palliative care units. We have called the theory 'living choice'. The dominant theme of category was 'patient choice' and this pervaded and influenced 'professional role', 'donation process', 'concerns' and 'knowledge'. All these categories were contained and continuously interacted in the palliative care environment. PMID:11823746
Integrating palliative care into the trajectory of cancer care
Hui, David; Bruera, Eduardo
Over the past five decades, palliative care has evolved from serving patients at the end of life into a highly specialized discipline focused on delivering supportive care to patients with life-limiting illnesses throughout the disease trajectory. A growing body of evidence is now available to inform the key domains in the practice of palliative care, including symptom management, psychosocial care, communication, decision-making, and end-of-life care. Findings from multiple studies indicate that integrating palliative care early in the disease trajectory can result in improvements in quality of life, symptom control, patient and caregiver satisfaction, quality of end-of-life care, survival, and costs of care. In this narrative Review, we discuss various strategies to integrate oncology and palliative care by optimizing clinical infrastructures, processes, education, and research. The goal of integration is to maximize patient access to palliative care and, ultimately, to improve patient outcomes. We provide a conceptual model for the integration of supportive and/or palliative care with primary and oncological care. We end by discussing how health-care systems and institutions need to tailor integration based on their resources, size, and the level of primary palliative care available. PMID:26598947
Opportunities to maximize value with integrated palliative care
Bergman, Jonathan; Laviana, Aaron A
Palliative care involves aggressively addressing and treating psychosocial, spiritual, religious, and family concerns, as well as considering the overall psychosocial structures supporting a patient. The concept of integrated palliative care removes the either/or decision a patient needs to make: they need not decide if they want either aggressive chemotherapy from their oncologist or symptom-guided palliative care but rather they can be comanaged by several clinicians, including a palliative care clinician, to maximize the benefit to them. One common misconception about palliative care, and supportive care in general, is that it amounts to "doing nothing" or "giving up" on aggressive treatments for patients. Rather, palliative care involves very aggressive care, targeted at patient symptoms, quality-of-life, psychosocial needs, family needs, and others. Integrating palliative care into the care plan for individuals with advanced diseases does not necessarily imply that a patient must forego other treatment options, including those aimed at a cure, prolonging of life, or palliation. Implementing interventions to understand patient preferences and to ensure those preferences are addressed, including preferences related to palliative and supportive care, is vital in improving the patient-centeredness and value of surgical care. Given our aging population and the disproportionate cost of end-of-life care, this holds great hope in bending the cost curve of health care spending, ensuring patient-centeredness, and improving quality and value of care. Level 1 evidence supports this model, and it has been achieved in several settings; the next necessary step is to disseminate such models more broadly. PMID:27226721
Palliative Care as a Standard of Care in Pediatric Oncology.
Weaver, Meaghann S; Heinze, Katherine E; Kelly, Katherine P; Wiener, Lori; Casey, Robert L; Bell, Cynthia J; Wolfe, Joanne; Garee, Amy M; Watson, Anne; Hinds, Pamela S
The study team conducted a systematic review of pediatric and adolescent palliative cancer care literature from 1995 to 2015 using four databases to inform development of a palliative care psychosocial standard. A total of 209 papers were reviewed with inclusion of 73 papers for final synthesis. Revealed topics of urgent consideration include the following: symptom assessment and intervention, direct patient report, effective communication, and shared decision-making. Standardization of palliative care assessments and interventions in pediatric oncology has the potential to foster improved quality of care across the cancer trajectory for children and adolescents with cancer and their family members. PMID:26700928
Edmonton, Canada: a regional model of palliative care development.
Fainsinger, Robin L; Brenneis, Carleen; Fassbender, Konrad
Palliative care developed unevenly in Edmonton in the 1980s and early 1990s. Health care budget cuts created an opportunity for innovative redesign of palliative care service delivery. This report describes the components that were developed to build an integrated comprehensive palliative care program, the use of common clinical assessments and outcome evaluation that has been key to establishing credibility and ongoing support. Our program has continued to develop and grow with an ongoing focus on the core areas of clinical care, education, and research. PMID:17482060
Pediatric Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit.
Madden, Kevin; Wolfe, Joanne; Collura, Christopher
The chronicity of illness that afflicts children in Pediatric Palliative Care and the medical technology that has improved their lifespan and quality of life make prognostication extremely difficult. The uncertainty of prognostication and the available medical technologies make both the neonatal intensive care unit and the pediatric intensive care unit locations where many children will receive Pediatric Palliative Care. Health care providers in the neonatal intensive care unit and pediatric intensive care unit should integrate fundamental Pediatric Palliative Care principles into their everyday practice. PMID:26333755
A palliative approach to neurological care: a literature review.
Gofton, Teneille E; Jog, Mandar S; Schulz, Valerie
This review assesses the current opinion towards early palliative care in neurology and discusses the existing evidence base. A comprehensive literature search resulted in 714 publications with 53 being directly relevant to the scope of this review. The current literature reflects primarily expert opinion and describes a growing interest in the early introduction of palliative principles into neurological care. Early initiation of palliative interventions has the potential to improve quality of life, enhance symptom management and assist in advance care planning. Further data is required to determine whether this shift in philosophy has a positive impact on patient care. PMID:19534328
An interdisciplinary and collaborative initiative in palliative care research
Desa, Veena; Danjoux, Cyril; Matyas, Yvette; Fitch, Margaret; Husain, Amna; Horvath, Nina; Myers, Jeff; Clemons, Mark; Hux, Janet E; Barnes, Elizabeth A
The scale and complexity of palliative care increasingly demands that researchers move beyond their own discipline and explore interdisciplinary collaboration. At a Palliative Care Research Retreat held in January 2006 at the Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre, researchers from multiple care settings with the center and from other Toronto hospitals came together with the vision of becoming Canadian leaders in palliative care research. As a result of this retreat, five interdisciplinary groups were formed to pursue research in the areas of pain and symptom management, access to services, translational research, education, and communication. An overview of the retreat and direction of research for each group is provided. PMID:21197289
HIFU for palliative treatment of pancreatic cancer
Khokhlova, Tatiana D.
High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a novel non-invasive modality for ablation of various solid tumors including uterine fibroids, prostate cancer, hepatic, renal, breast and pancreatic tumors. HIFU therapy utilizes mechanical energy in the form of a powerful ultrasound wave that is focused inside the body to induce thermal and/or mechanical effects in tissue. Multiple preclinical and non-randomized clinical trials have been performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of HIFU for palliative treatment of pancreatic tumors. Substantial tumor-related pain reduction was achieved in most cases after HIFU treatment, and no significant side-effects were observed. This review provides a description of different physical mechanisms underlying HIFU therapy, summarizes the clinical experience obtained to date in HIFU treatment of pancreatic tumors, and discusses the challenges, limitations and new approaches in this modality. PMID:22811848
Anger in palliative care: a clinical approach.
Philip, J; Gold, M; Schwarz, M; Komesaroff, P
Anger in patients and families is a common problem in the care of persons with advanced disease. Whereas it is widely accepted that anger may be a justifiable reaction to significant illness and loss, it frequently creates difficulties for the doctors involved in care. In particular, there is often a personal impact on the doctor at whom anger is directed. This paper examines results of qualitative research with palliative care workers in the context of the broader published literature and the authors' clinical experiences. The ability to interact effectively with angry patients is a skill that is often learned with experience and is extremely useful in both transforming the patients' reaction into a more creative emotion and in developing a therapeutic relationship. Despite conscientious efforts, however, a few patients continue to be angry. A practical approach to anger, useful for the clinician directly involved in care, is outlined along with some strategies to adopt in the face of persistent anger. PMID:17199844
Palliative Care Patients in the Emergency Department
Although end-of-life care is not a primary function of the emergency department (ED), in reality, many access this department in the later stages of illness. In this study, ED use by patients registered with the Capital Health Integrated Palliative Care Service (CHIPCS) is examined and CHIPCS patient characteristics associated with ED use identified. Overall, 27% of patients made at least one ED visit while registered with CHIPCS; 54% of these resulted in a hospital admission. ED visiting was not associated with time of day or day of the week. Multivariate logistic regression results suggest older patients were significantly less likely to make an ED visit. Making an ED visit was associated with hospital death, rural residence (particularly for women), and having a parent or relative other than a spouse or child as the primary caregiver. Further research may suggest strategies to reduce unnecessary ED visits during the end of life. PMID:19227016
When patients are stressed, in pain, suggest palliative care.
Case managers are in a good position to recognize patients who have serious medical problems that are causing them and their family members stress, and refer them for a palliative care consultation, experts say. The palliative care team coordinates with the team providing medical care and helps control pain and other physical symptoms, relieves depression and anxiety, and provides support and spiritual help for the patient and family. The core palliative care team typically includes a medical specialist, a nurse who also acts as a case manager, a social worker, and a spiritual counselor. Palliative care improves outcomes and patient satisfaction when patients have a consultation early in the stay or even in the emergency department. PMID:27323510
Palliative care - what the final days are like
... D, Caraceni AT, Fainsinger R, et al., eds. Palliative Medicine . 1st ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2008:chap 177. Rakel RE, Strauch EM. Care of the dying patient. Rakel RE, Rakel DP, ...
[eLearning service for home palliative care].
Sakuyama, Toshikazu; Komatsu, Kazuhiro; Inoue, Daisuke; Fukushima, Osamu
In order to support the home palliative care learning, we made the eLearning service for home palliative care (beta version) and tried to teach the palliative care to the medical staffs in the community. The various learners (such as nurses, pharmacists and the like) accessed to the online learning and used this eLearning service. After the learners finished eLearning for home palliative care, some questionnaires were distributed to the learners and analyzed by us. The analysis of questionnaires revealed that almost all were satisfied with our eLearning services. Especially the learners were not only interested in using the skills of opioids and the management of pain control, but they had a good cognition for the usage of opioids. PMID:20443298
Children's palliative care in low- and middle-income countries.
Downing, Julia; Powell, Richard A; Marston, Joan; Huwa, Cornelius; Chandra, Lynna; Garchakova, Anna; Harding, Richard
One-third of the global population is aged under 20 years. For children with life-limiting conditions, palliative care services are required. However, despite 80% of global need occurring in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the majority of children's palliative care (CPC) is provided in high-income countries. This paper reviews the status of CPC services in LMICs--highlighting examples of best practice among service models in Malawi, Indonesia and Belarus--before reviewing the status of the extant research in this field. It concludes that while much has been achieved in palliative care for adults, less attention has been devoted to the education, clinical practice, funding and research needed to ensure children and young people receive the palliative care they need. PMID:26369576
Smarter palliative care for cancer: Use of smartphone applications
Jamwal, Nisha Rani; Kumar, Senthil P
Smartphones are technologically advanced mobile phone devices which use software similar to computer-based devices as a user-friendly interface. This review article is aimed to inform the palliative care professionals, cancer patients and their caregivers about the role of smartphone applications (apps) in the delivery of palliative care services, through a brief review of existing literature on the development, feasibility, analysis, and effectiveness of such apps. There is a dearth need for sincere palliative care clinicians to work together with software professionals to develop the suitable smartphone apps in accordance with the family/caregivers' necessities and patients' biopsychosocial characteristics that influence the technology driven evidence informed palliative cancer care. PMID:26962291
Utility and Potential of Bedside Ultrasound in Palliative Care
Dhamija, Ekta; Thulkar, Sanjay; Bhatnagar, Sushma
Bedside ultrasound is an important tool in modern palliative care practice. It can be utilized for rapid diagnostic evaluation or as an image guidance to perform invasive therapeutic procedures. With advent of portable ultrasound machines, it can also be used in community or home care settings, apart from palliative care wards. Major applications of bedside ultrasound include drainage of malignant pleural effusions and ascites, nerve blocks, venous access, evaluation of urinary obstruction, deep vein thrombosis and abscesses. Bedside ultrasound leads to better clinical decision-making as well as more accurate and faster invasive therapeutic procedures. It also enhances patient comfort and reduces cost burden. However, use of bedside ultrasound is still not widespread among palliative care givers, owing to initial cost, lack of basic training in ultrasound and apprehensions about its use. A team approach involving radiologists is important to develop integration of bedside ultrasound in palliative care. PMID:26009664
Smarter palliative care for cancer: Use of smartphone applications.
Jamwal, Nisha Rani; Kumar, Senthil P
Smartphones are technologically advanced mobile phone devices which use software similar to computer-based devices as a user-friendly interface. This review article is aimed to inform the palliative care professionals, cancer patients and their caregivers about the role of smartphone applications (apps) in the delivery of palliative care services, through a brief review of existing literature on the development, feasibility, analysis, and effectiveness of such apps. There is a dearth need for sincere palliative care clinicians to work together with software professionals to develop the suitable smartphone apps in accordance with the family/caregivers' necessities and patients' biopsychosocial characteristics that influence the technology driven evidence informed palliative cancer care. PMID:26962291
Early Palliative Care Improves Patients' Quality of Life
... fullstory_160885.html Early Palliative Care Improves Patients' Quality of Life Also increases chances of having end- ... incurable cancer helps patients cope and improves their quality of life, a new study shows. It also ...
Why Palliative Care for Children is Preferable to Euthanasia.
Carter, Brian S
Recent laws in Europe now allow for pediatric euthanasia. The author reviews some rationale for caution, and addresses why ensuring the availability of pediatric palliative care is an important step before allowing pediatric euthanasia. PMID:25007796
Heart Failure and Palliative Care: Implications in Practice
Penrod, Janice; Fogg, Janet
Abstract The number of people with heart failure is continually rising. Despite continued medical advances that may prolong life, there is no cure. While typical heart failure trajectories include the risk of sudden death, heart failure is typically characterized by periods of stability interrupted by acute exacerbations. The unpredictable nature of this disease and the inability to predict its terminal phase has resulted in few services beyond medical management being offered. Yet, this population has documented unmet needs that extend beyond routine medical care. Palliative care has been proposed as a strategy to meet these needs, however, these services are rarely offered. Although palliative care should be implemented early in the disease process, in practice it is tied to end-of-life care. The purpose of this study was to uncover whether the conceptualization of palliative care for heart failure as end-of-life care may inhibit the provision of these services. The meaning of palliative care in heart failure was explored from three perspectives: scientific literature, health care providers, and spousal caregivers of patients with heart failure. There is confusion in the literature and by the health care community about the meaning of the term palliative care and what the provision of these services entails. Palliative care was equated to end-of-life care, and as a result, health care providers may be reluctant to discuss palliative care with heart failure patients early in the disease trajectory. Most family caregivers have not heard of the term and all would be receptive to an offer of palliative care at some point during the disease trajectory. PMID:19508139
A Measure of Palliative Care in Nursing Homes
Thompson, Sarah; Bott, Marjorie; Boyle, Diane; Gajewski, Byron; Tilden, Virginia P.
Context Efforts to improve care for nursing home residents stand to be enhanced by measures to assess the degree to which staff provide palliative care. As the incidence of death in nursing homes increases with the aging population, the gap in measurement must be addressed. To that end, we report the development and psychometric testing of a nursing home palliative care survey. Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Palliative Care Survey for use in nursing homes. Methods Psychometric evaluation of the instrument was completed in two phases. Phase 1 focused on individual item analyses and subsequent revision or deletion of items, and Phase 2 evaluated evidence for reliability and validity. Phase 1 included 26 nursing homes and staff (n = 717) and Phase 2 included 85 nursing homes and staff (n = 2779). Data were analyzed using item-total correlations, Cronbach's alpha, confirmatory factor analysis, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results Support was obtained for a 51-item Palliative Care Survey (PCS) made up of two constructs Palliative Care Practice and Palliative Care Knowledge. Conclusion The PCS measures the extent to which nursing home staff engage in palliative care practices and have knowledge consistent with good end-of-life care. Both practice and knowledge are an essential foundation to providing good end-of-life care to nursing home residents. Efforts to improve care for the dying in nursing homes have been slowed by an absence of measurement tools that capture care processes; a gap, which the Palliative Care Survey reported here, helps fill. PMID:20797836
Retroperitoneal Endodermal Sinus Tumor Patient with Palliative Care Needs
Kashyap, Surbhi
This article is a case reflection of a personal encounter on the palliative care treatment required after the removal of a complicated case of a primary extra-gonadal retro-peritoneal endodermal sinus tumor (yolk sac tumor). This reflection is from the perspective of a recently graduated MD student who spent one month with an Indian pain management and palliative care team at the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi PMID:26962288
Pain Assessment in Noncommunicative Adult Palliative Care Patients.
McGuire, Deborah B; Kaiser, Karen Snow; Haisfield-Wolfe, Mary Ellen; Iyamu, Florence
Palliative care patients who have pain are often unable to self-report their pain, placing them at increased risk for underrecognized and undertreated pain. Use of appropriate pain assessment tools significantly enhances the likelihood of effective pain management and improved pain-related outcomes. This paper reviews selected tools and provides palliative care clinicians with a practical approach to selecting a pain assessment tool for noncommunicative adult patients. PMID:27497016
Music therapy in the context of palliative care in Tanzania.
Hartwig, Rebecca
There has been much written to support music therapy as an adjunct in managing pain and anxiety in palliative care patients in Western societies, but little written on its use in developing countries. In light of increasing numbers of terminally ill patients in Tanzania owing to HIV/AIDS and cancer, limited access to opioids, and a growing interest in palliative care support, this study looks at the application of music in this context. The study reviews the history and principles of therapeutic music and outlines its role in palliative care. A qualitative study was conducted by questionnaire of 17 professionals involved in home-based palliative care in Tanzania. Findings include beliefs about the power of music, how music is being used to bring comfort to the dying patient, and the most important aspects of helpful music to many Tanzanian palliative care patients. Music can powerfully affect body, mind and spirit. It is vocal music, which is an accepted therapeutic music tool used to bring comfort to the palliative care patient and their family members. Finally, music is an active and participatory activity in Tanzanian culture, even for the dying. PMID:20972382
Palliative care in COPD: an unmet area for quality improvement
Vermylen, Julia H; Szmuilowicz, Eytan; Kalhan, Ravi
COPD is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients suffer from refractory breathlessness, unrecognized anxiety and depression, and decreased quality of life. Palliative care improves symptom management, patient reported health-related quality of life, cost savings, and mortality though the majority of patients with COPD die without access to palliative care. There are many barriers to providing palliative care to patients with COPD including the difficulty in prognosticating a patient's course causing referrals to occur late in a patient's disease. Additionally, physicians avoid conversations about advance care planning due to unique communication barriers present with patients with COPD. Lastly, many health systems are not set up to provide trained palliative care physicians to patients with chronic disease including COPD. This review analyzes the above challenges, the available data regarding palliative care applied to the COPD population, and proposes an alternative approach to address the unmet needs of patients with COPD with proactive primary palliative care. PMID:26345486
Integration of Palliative Care in the Context of Rapid Response
Nelson, Judith E.; Mathews, Kusum S.; Weissman, David E.; Brasel, Karen J.; Campbell, Margaret; Curtis, J. Randall; Frontera, Jennifer A.; Gabriel, Michelle; Hays, Ross M.; Mosenthal, Anne C.; Mulkerin, Colleen; Puntillo, Kathleen A.; Ray, Daniel E.; Weiss, Stefanie P.; Bassett, Rick; Boss, Renee D.; Lustbader, Dana R.
Rapid response teams (RRTs) can effectively foster discussions about appropriate goals of care and address other emergent palliative care needs of patients and families facing life-threatening illness on hospital wards. In this article, The Improving Palliative Care in the ICU (IPAL-ICU) Project brings together interdisciplinary expertise and existing data to address the following: special challenges for providing palliative care in the rapid response setting, knowledge and skills needed by RRTs for delivery of high-quality palliative care, and strategies for improving the integration of palliative care with rapid response critical care. We discuss key components of communication with patients, families, and primary clinicians to develop a goal-directed treatment approach during a rapid response event. We also highlight the need for RRT expertise to initiate symptom relief. Strategies including specific clinician training and system initiatives are then recommended for RRT care improvement. We conclude by suggesting that as evaluation of their impact on other outcomes continues, performance by RRTs in meeting palliative care needs of patients and families should also be measured and improved. PMID:25644909
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Grizzard, Clare; Woerner, Georgia K.
Educators in Roland Park Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore recognize the essential role that the arts play in education. This K-8 urban public school, which serves a highly diverse population, focuses on academic excellence and high standards for students and faculty. They believe that teaching "in and through the arts" helps to achieve those…
Partnership for Excellence, Fall 2000.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cartnal, Ryan; Hagen, Pete
Cuesta College (California) students are exceeding goals for AA/AS degrees and certificates, along with basic skills, vocational and occupational course completions. Students have shown excellent progress for goals with transfer preparedness and have shown improvement in combined California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC)…
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Summerville, Jennifer; Morrow, Jean; Howell, Dusti
Microsoft Excel is a sophisticated and flexible reporting, planning, and presentation tool that teachers can use effectively for curriculum prep, class projects, budget planning and reporting, and even as a database. This book, a how-to guide for teachers at all grade levels, provides information on the fundamentals of creating powerful…
Directions to Excellence in Education.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dochterman, Clifford L.; Beshoar, Barron B.
This monograph is directed toward policy makers, parents, students, educational leaders, teachers, taxpayers and society as a whole, aiming at their involvement and the attainment of excellence in education. People living in a rapidly changing society have many expectations for education, among which are the teaching of moral and ethical values,…
On Excellence: Craftsmanship and Leadership
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Merrill, Chris
At a presentation from the Maley "Spirit of Excellence" Breakfast in Columbus, OH, March 2013, the author shares comments about craftsmanship and leadership as they relate to technology and engineering education. Students need more experience getting their hands dirty troubleshooting, researching and developing, inventing and innovating,…
Implementing the Reading Excellence Act.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lacy, Laurie; Dole, Janice; Donaldson, Becky; Donaldson, Brady
This slide presentation outlines one state's (Utah) version of implementation of a model for literacy learning under the Reading Excellence Act (REA). According to the presentation, the model is called "The Utah Reads K-3 Literacy Model." The presentation is divided into the following sections: Utah's Vision: What We've Learned So Far; One…
Gastroduodenal outlet obstruction and palliative self-expandable metal stenting: a dual-centre experience.
Ding, Nik S; Alexander, Sina; Swan, Michael P; Hair, Christopher; Wilson, Patrick; Clarebrough, Emma; Devonshire, David
Background. Self-expandable metal stents (SEMs) are increasingly being utilised instead of invasive surgery for the palliation of patients with malignant gastroduodenal outlet obstruction. Aim. To review two tertiary centres' experience with placement of SEMs and clinical outcomes. Methods. Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data over 12 years. Results. Ninety-four patients (mean age, 68; range 28-93 years) underwent enteral stenting during this period. The primary tumour was gastric adenocarcinoma in 27 (29%) patients, pancreatic adenocarcinoma in 45 (48%), primary duodenal adenocarcinoma in 8 (9%), and cholangiocarcinoma and other metastatic cancers in 14 (16%). A stent was successfully deployed in 95% of cases. There was an improvement in gastric outlet obstruction score (GOOS) in 84 (90%) of patients with the ability to tolerate an enteral diet. Median survival was 4.25 months (range 0-49) without any significant differences between types of primary malignancy. Mean hospital stay was 3 days (range 1-20). Reintervention rate for stent related complications was 5%. Conclusion. The successful deployment of enteral stents achieves excellent palliation often resulting in the prompt reintroduction of enteral diet and early hospital discharge with minimal complications and reintervention. PMID:24319458
Gastroduodenal Outlet Obstruction and Palliative Self-Expandable Metal Stenting: A Dual-Centre Experience
Ding, Nik S.; Alexander, Sina; Swan, Michael P.; Hair, Christopher; Wilson, Patrick; Devonshire, David
Background. Self-expandable metal stents (SEMs) are increasingly being utilised instead of invasive surgery for the palliation of patients with malignant gastroduodenal outlet obstruction. Aim. To review two tertiary centres' experience with placement of SEMs and clinical outcomes. Methods. Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data over 12 years. Results. Ninety-four patients (mean age, 68; range 28–93 years) underwent enteral stenting during this period. The primary tumour was gastric adenocarcinoma in 27 (29%) patients, pancreatic adenocarcinoma in 45 (48%), primary duodenal adenocarcinoma in 8 (9%), and cholangiocarcinoma and other metastatic cancers in 14 (16%). A stent was successfully deployed in 95% of cases. There was an improvement in gastric outlet obstruction score (GOOS) in 84 (90%) of patients with the ability to tolerate an enteral diet. Median survival was 4.25 months (range 0–49) without any significant differences between types of primary malignancy. Mean hospital stay was 3 days (range 1–20). Reintervention rate for stent related complications was 5%. Conclusion. The successful deployment of enteral stents achieves excellent palliation often resulting in the prompt reintroduction of enteral diet and early hospital discharge with minimal complications and reintervention. PMID:24319458
Home C-ABPM for Preventive and Curative Health Care and Transdisciplinary Science
Halberg, Franz; Cornélissen, Germaine; Otsuka, Kuniaki; Watanabe, Yoshihiko; Singh, Ram B.; Revilla, Miguel; de la Peña, Salvador Sanchez; Gonzalez, Clicerio; Siegelova, Jarmila; Homolka, Pavel; Dusek, Jiri; Zeman, Michal; Singh, RK; Johnson, Dana; Fiser, Bohumil
The clinical everyday management of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) can be greatly improved by the mapping of time structures in home ambulatory BP and HR assessment. Thereby, we change focus from the BP and the HR to the dynamics of these variables. This change is achieved by computer-implemented chronomics, the mapping of chronomes, consisting of cyclicities (our concern herein) along with chaos and trends, in the service of cardiologists, general health care providers, the educated public, and transdisciplinary science. We here further illustrate the yield of chronomics in research on long BP and HR series covering years, some several decades long, and on archives of human sudden cardiac death revealing magnetoperiodisms, e.g., "years" longer than a calendar year, i.e., transyears. In this case of cardiac arrest, what we do not see, the 16- to 20-month transyear is prominent, in the absence of any signature of the calendar year, and so can be a cis-half-year of about 5 months. PMID:21966282
Home C-ABPM for Preventive and Curative Health Care and Transdisciplinary Science.
Halberg, Franz; Cornélissen, Germaine; Otsuka, Kuniaki; Watanabe, Yoshihiko; Singh, Ram B; Revilla, Miguel; de la Peña, Salvador Sanchez; Gonzalez, Clicerio; Siegelova, Jarmila; Homolka, Pavel; Dusek, Jiri; Zeman, Michal; Singh, Rk; Johnson, Dana; Fiser, Bohumil
The clinical everyday management of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) can be greatly improved by the mapping of time structures in home ambulatory BP and HR assessment. Thereby, we change focus from the BP and the HR to the dynamics of these variables. This change is achieved by computer-implemented chronomics, the mapping of chronomes, consisting of cyclicities (our concern herein) along with chaos and trends, in the service of cardiologists, general health care providers, the educated public, and transdisciplinary science. We here further illustrate the yield of chronomics in research on long BP and HR series covering years, some several decades long, and on archives of human sudden cardiac death revealing magnetoperiodisms, e.g., "years" longer than a calendar year, i.e., transyears. In this case of cardiac arrest, what we do not see, the 16- to 20-month transyear is prominent, in the absence of any signature of the calendar year, and so can be a cis-half-year of about 5 months. PMID:21966282
Science in the Public Sphere: Greater Sage-grouse Conservation Planning from a Transdisciplinary Perspective
Torregrosa, Alicia; Casazza, Michael L.; Caldwell, Margaret R.; Mathiasmeier, Teresa A.; Morgan, Peter M.; Overton, Cory T.
Integration of scientific data and adaptive management techniques is critical to the success of species conservation, however, there are uncertainties about effective methods of knowledge exchange between scientists and decisionmakers. The conservation planning and implementation process for Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; ) in the Mono Basin, Calif. region, was used as a case study to observe the exchange of scientific information among stakeholders with differing perspectives; resource manager, scientist, public official, rancher, and others. The collaborative development of a risk-simulation model was explored as a tool to transfer knowledge between stakeholders and inform conservation planning and management decisions. Observations compiled using a transdisciplinary approach were used to compare the exchange of information during the collaborative model development and more traditional interactions such as scientist-led presentations at stakeholder meetings. Lack of congruence around knowledge needs and prioritization led to insufficient commitment to completely implement the risk-simulation model. Ethnographic analysis of the case study suggests that further application of epistemic community theory, which posits a strong boundary condition on knowledge transfer, could help support application of risk simulation models in conservation-planning efforts within similarly complex social and bureaucratic landscapes.
Using a Transdisciplinary Interpretive Lens to Broaden Reflections on Alleviating Poverty and Promoting Decent Work.
Di Fabio, Annamaria; Maree, Jacobus G
This article aims to broaden current reflections on definitions of decent work and poverty using a transdisciplinary interpretive lens comprising philosophical, juridical, economic, sociological, and psychological understandings. We (the authors) undertook an adapted systematic qualitative review to gather data on different perspectives on decent work and poverty. The article summarizes and compares reflections on the two constructs and proposes an enhancement of the current definition of decent work. The aim is to facilitate the identification and development of new research and intervention projects that can be implemented to promote fair and sustainable economic development, the provision of decent work, and the reduction of poverty globally. We believe that challenges should be dealt with pro-actively rather than reactively and that intervening at the level of primary prevention should lie at the heart of any strategy to promote decent work and alleviate poverty. Radical intervention is needed to ensure that future generations not only survive but develop, grow, and express themselves meaningfully through decent work. PMID:27148115
Using a Transdisciplinary Interpretive Lens to Broaden Reflections on Alleviating Poverty and Promoting Decent Work
Di Fabio, Annamaria; Maree, Jacobus G.
This article aims to broaden current reflections on definitions of decent work and poverty using a transdisciplinary interpretive lens comprising philosophical, juridical, economic, sociological, and psychological understandings. We (the authors) undertook an adapted systematic qualitative review to gather data on different perspectives on decent work and poverty. The article summarizes and compares reflections on the two constructs and proposes an enhancement of the current definition of decent work. The aim is to facilitate the identification and development of new research and intervention projects that can be implemented to promote fair and sustainable economic development, the provision of decent work, and the reduction of poverty globally. We believe that challenges should be dealt with pro-actively rather than reactively and that intervening at the level of primary prevention should lie at the heart of any strategy to promote decent work and alleviate poverty. Radical intervention is needed to ensure that future generations not only survive but develop, grow, and express themselves meaningfully through decent work PMID:27148115
Integrating palliative care in public health: the Colombian experience following an international pain policy fellowship.
Leon, Marta; Florez, Sandra; De Lima, Liliana; Ryan, Karen
Access to palliative care is insufficient in many countries around the world. In an effort to improve access to palliative care services and treatments, a public health approach as suggested by the World Health Organization was implemented in Colombia to improve opioid availability, increase awareness and competences about palliative care for healthcare workers, and to include palliative care as a component of care in legislation. As a result, opioid availability has improved, a mandatory palliative care course for medical undergraduate students has been implemented and a palliative care law is being discussed in the Senate. This article describes the strategy, main achievements and suggestions for implementing similar initiatives in developing countries. PMID:21228093
Endoscopic palliation of advanced esophageal cancer
Mocanu, A; Bârla, R; Hoara, P; Constantinoiu, S
Esophageal cancer represents one of the most aggressive digestive tumors, with a survival rate at 5 years of only 10%. Globally, during the last three decades, there has been an increasing incidence of the esophageal cancer, approx. 400,000 new esophageal cancers being currently diagnosed annually. This represents the eighth leading cause of cancer incidence and the sixth leading cause of cancer death overall. Taking into account the population's global aging and thus, the increase in the number of patients who will not bear surgery, PCT and radiation, or the fact that they do not want it especially because of deficiencies and associated pathology, the endoscopic ablative techniques with palliation purposes represent the alternative. If we refer to the Western Europe countries and North America, we notice an increase of esophageal adenocarcinoma rate versus squamous cancer. As for the Asian region, referring in particular to China and Japan, 9 out of 10 esophageal cancers are squamous cell carcinomas. For at least half of the patients with EC (esophageal cancer) there is no hope of healing because of the advanced regional malignant invasion (T3-4, N+, M+) with no chemo and radiotherapy response, poor preoperative patients' conditions or systemic metastasis. The low life expectancy does not justify the risky medical procedures, the goal of the therapy consisting in the improvement of the quality of life by eliminating dysphagia (reestablishing oral feeding) which represents the most common complication of EC, the respiratory tract complication caused by eso-tracheal fistulas or by eliminating chest pain. To treat dysphagia, which is the main target of palliation, combined methods like endoscopic, chemo and radio-therapy, can be used, each one with indications, benefits and risks. Abbreviations: SEPS = self expanding plastic stent, SREMS = self expanding metal stent, EBRT = Endoscopic brachy radiotherapy, EUS = Ultra sound endoscopy, CT = Computer tomograph, UGE
The role of palliative care in the home in medical education: report from a national consensus Conference.
Billings, J A; Ferris, F D; Macdonald, N; Von Gunten, C
A working group on teaching palliative care in the home was convened at The National Consensus Conference on Medical Education for Care Near the End of Life. Our consensus statement includes: (1) a justification for education in the home; (2) general guidelines about teaching palliative care at this site; (3) identification of major barriers to training in the home, and some suggestions for overcoming these barriers; and (4) specific suggestions about how and what to teach. We find that the home is an excellent site for training in comprehensive palliative medicine. Housecalls afford an unusually rich and compelling opportunity to learn about the patient's and family's experience of severe illness and the impact of culture and environment on health care, and can have a broad humanizing effect on trainees. We propose that all medical students be familiar with this form of care. Trainees should learn the potential benefits and difficulties of managing terminal illness in the community, appreciate the role of health care teams in assuring safe, secure, high-quality care, and acquire the special knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for providing state-of-the-art palliative care for patients and families facing a terminal illness in the home, including for those dying at home. Instituting education in the home setting will require faculty development, support for more home visiting by physicians, and supervision of trainees in the home by other members of the health care team. Academic medical centers and hospice/home health agencies should collaborate to develop effective training programs. PMID:11596548
Research Priorities in Geriatric Palliative Care: Informal Caregiving
Abstract Background Informal care provided by family members is an essential feature of health care systems worldwide. Although caregiving often begins early in the disease process, over time informal caregivers must deal with chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening illnesses. Despite thousands of published studies on informal care, little is known about the intersection of informal caregiving and formal palliative care. Objective The goal of this review is to identify research priorities that would enhance our understanding of the relationship between informal caregiving and palliative care. Design To better understand palliative care in the context of caregiving, we provide an overview of the nature of a caregiving career from inception to care recipient placement and death and the associated tasks, challenges, and health effects at each stage of a caregiving career. This in turn leads to key unanswered questions designed to advance research in caregiving and palliative care. Results Little is known about the extent to which and how palliative care uniquely affects the caregiving experience. This suggests a need for more fine-grained prospective studies that attempt to clearly delineate the experience of caregivers during palliative and end-of-life phases, characterize the transitions into and out of these phases from both informal and formal caregiver perspectives, identify caregiver needs at each phase, and identify effects on key caregiver and patient outcomes. Conclusions Inasmuch as most caregivers must deal with chronic, debilitating, and often life-threatening conditions, it is essential that we advance a research agenda that addresses the interplay between informal care and formal palliative care. PMID:23883146
Excellence in Ophthalmology: Continuous Certification.
Siatkowski, R Michael
Over the course of a century, American medical specialty boards including the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) have developed significant expertise in assessing physician competence on completion of postgraduate training and, more recently, in defining appropriate criteria for continuous learning and quality improvement in practicing physicians. This article explores why maintaining career-long excellence is an evolving challenge, but one that is at the heart of the ABO's mission to protect the public by improving patient care. PMID:27549998
Pediatric palliative care in the community.
Kaye, Erica C; Rubenstein, Jared; Levine, Deena; Baker, Justin N; Dabbs, Devon; Friebert, Sarah E
Early integration of pediatric palliative care (PPC) for children with life-threatening conditions and their families enhances the provision of holistic care, addressing psychological, social, spiritual, and physical concerns, without precluding treatment with the goal of cure. PPC involvement ideally extends throughout the illness trajectory to improve continuity of care for patients and families. Although current PPC models focus primarily on the hospital setting, community-based PPC (CBPPC) programs are increasingly integral to the coordination, continuity, and provision of quality care. In this review, the authors examine the purpose, design, and infrastructure of CBPPC in the United States, highlighting eligibility criteria, optimal referral models to enhance early involvement, and fundamental tenets of CBPPC. This article also appraises the role of CBPPC in promoting family-centered care. This model strives to enhance shared decision making, facilitate seamless handoffs of care, maintain desired locations of care, and ease the end of life for children who die at home. The effect of legislation on the advent and evolution of CBPPC also is discussed, as is an assessment of the current status of state-specific CBPPC programs and barriers to implementation of CBPPC. Finally, strategies and resources for designing, implementing, and maintaining quality standards in CBPPC programs are reviewed. PMID:25955682
Oesophageal carcinoma: laser palliation in 231 cases.
Rau, B K; Harikrishnan, K M; Krishna, S
Two hundred and thirty-one patients of advanced oesophageal carcinoma were treated with Neodymium: Yttrium-Aluminium-Garnet (Nd:YAG) laser photocoagulation of tumour tissue to relieve distressing dysphagia. There were 155 males (67.1%) and 76 females (32.9%). The mean age was 59.6 years. Eighty-five percent (196 cases) were above 50 years of age. Distribution of tumour by site was as follows: upper one-third--24 cases (10.4%), mid one-third--98 cases (42.4%) and lower one-third--109 cases (47.1%). Squamous cell carcinomas accounted for 83.5% (193) of cases. Nearly two-thirds (144 cases, 62.3%) were more than 4 cm in length. Tumour deposits were found at more than one site in 11 cases (4.7%). Oesophageal lumen was restored in all cases but was poorly sustained in 19 cases (8.2%). Further sessions of laser therapy were required in all these cases. A mean of 2.7 sessions of laser treatment was required to achieve adequate lumen. One hundred and eighty-nine patients (82%) had good relief of dysphagia to liquids and semi solids. Complications were seen in 20 cases (8.6%). There were no deaths related to the procedure. Mean survival was 5.5 months (1-14 months). Nd:YAG laser therapy offers effective palliation of dysphagia in carcinoma of the oesophagus with acceptable morbidity and no mortality. PMID:7514382
Malignant biliary obstruction: From palliation to treatment
Boulay, Brian R; Birg, Aleksandr
Malignant obstruction of the bile duct from cholangiocarcinoma, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, or other tumors is a common problem which may cause debilitating symptoms and increase the risk of subsequent surgery. The optimal treatment - including the decision whether to treat prior to resection - depends on the type of malignancy, as well as the stage of disease. Preoperative biliary drainage is generally discouraged due to the risk of infectious complications, though some situations may benefit. Patients who require neoadjuvant therapy will require decompression for the prolonged period until attempted surgical cure. For pancreatic cancer patients, self-expanding metallic stents are superior to plastic stents for achieving lasting decompression without stent occlusion. For cholangiocarcinoma patients, treatment with percutaneous methods or nasobiliary drainage may be superior to endoscopic stent placement, with less risk of infectious complications or failure. For patients of either malignancy who have advanced disease with palliative goals only, the choice of stent for endoscopic decompression depends on estimated survival, with plastic stents favored for survival of < 4 mo. New endoscopic techniques may actually extend stent patency and patient survival for these patients by achieving local control of the obstructing tumor. Both photodynamic therapy and radiofrequency ablation may play a role in extending survival of patients with malignant biliary obstruction. PMID:27326319
Gynaecological Malignancies from Palliative Care Perspective
Mishra, Kamlesh
Of the approximately 80,000 new cases of all cancers detected every year in India, 10–15% are gynecological malignancies. As per population-based registries under the National Cancer Registry Program, the leading sites of cancer among women are the cervix uteri, breast, and oral cavity. About 50–60% of all cancers among women in India are mainly of the following four organs: cervix uteri, breast, corpus uteri, and ovaries. Over 70% of these women report for diagnostic and treatment services at an advanced stage of disease, resulting in poor survival and high mortality rates. Among all gynecological cancers, ovarian cancer is the deadliest one and, in 2/3rd of the cases, is detected in an advanced stage. But, in India and in other developing countries, due to inadequate screening facilities for the preventable cancer cervix, this kills more women than any other cancer in females. Gynecology Oncologist as a sub-specialist has an immensely important role in curtailing the menace of gynecological malignancies by providing comprehensive preventive, curative, palliative and follow-up services, with the aim of assuring a good quality of life to women as a cornerstone of cancer management. PMID:21811372
Cross cultural research in palliative care.
Field, Annette; Maher, Paul; Webb, David
Hospices within Australia, such as the Sacred Heart Hospice (SHH) at Darlinghurst, have over many years proven to be highly successful in meeting the needs of persons who require palliative care and addressing the concerns raised by their families. However, health professionals have increasingly recognised that caring for persons who are from a Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) and for their families requires giving them special consideration because of their different cultural needs. This project involved reviewing all inpatient files of the SHH over a three year period (1 October 1994 to 30 September 1997) and quantitatively reviewing all inpatient files of NESB inpatients during this period. Following this review, the researchers coordinated a focus group that comprised various health professionals from SHH and other health and community services and representatives of four non-English speaking countries--Greece, Italy, the former USSR, and China. These countries had the highest representation of inpatients during the three-year term covered by the research project. The project identified a number of specific strategies aimed at providing a more culturally sensitive health care service to NESB inpatients. PMID:12365757
Malignant biliary obstruction: From palliation to treatment.
Boulay, Brian R; Birg, Aleksandr
Malignant obstruction of the bile duct from cholangiocarcinoma, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, or other tumors is a common problem which may cause debilitating symptoms and increase the risk of subsequent surgery. The optimal treatment - including the decision whether to treat prior to resection - depends on the type of malignancy, as well as the stage of disease. Preoperative biliary drainage is generally discouraged due to the risk of infectious complications, though some situations may benefit. Patients who require neoadjuvant therapy will require decompression for the prolonged period until attempted surgical cure. For pancreatic cancer patients, self-expanding metallic stents are superior to plastic stents for achieving lasting decompression without stent occlusion. For cholangiocarcinoma patients, treatment with percutaneous methods or nasobiliary drainage may be superior to endoscopic stent placement, with less risk of infectious complications or failure. For patients of either malignancy who have advanced disease with palliative goals only, the choice of stent for endoscopic decompression depends on estimated survival, with plastic stents favored for survival of < 4 mo. New endoscopic techniques may actually extend stent patency and patient survival for these patients by achieving local control of the obstructing tumor. Both photodynamic therapy and radiofrequency ablation may play a role in extending survival of patients with malignant biliary obstruction. PMID:27326319
Palliative and supportive care for glioma patients.
Walbert, Tobias; Chasteen, Kristen
The diagnosis of a brain tumor is a life-changing event for patients and families. High-grade gliomas are incurable and long-term survival remains limited. While low-grade glioma patients have better outcomes, their quality of life is often affected by a variety of symptoms as well. Helping glioma patients improve quality of life at all stages of illness is an important goal for the interdisciplinary care team. There is evidence from advanced lung cancer patients that early involvement of a palliative care team can improve patient's quality of life, symptom burden, and even survival and a similar approach benefits glioma patients as well. Patients with high-grade and low-grade glioma often suffer from significant symptom burden. We discuss how validated global symptom assessments and symptom-specific screening tools are useful to identify distressing symptoms. Seizures, fatigue, depression, and anxiety are some of the more common symptoms throughout the disease course and should be managed actively. Patients with glioma also have high symptom burden at the end of life and the majority lose decision-making capacity. Advance care planning conversations early in the disease course are essential to elicit the patient's wishes for end of life care and effective communication with surrogate decision makers during all stages of the disease helps ensure that those wishes are respected. PMID:25468232
[Palliative Care for Non-cancer Patients].
Ikegaki, Junichi
Although palliative care has been developed and implemented as care for cancer pain, it is holistic care for suffering that includes physical, psychosocial and spiritual pain of life-threatening illness. It turned out that non-cancer patients in the end-stage are also suffering from various pain that should be treated as cancer patients. Trajectories of illness in non-cancer patients are with more gradual decline than those of cancer patients with steady progression and it is often difficult to make decision about end-of-life. The purpose of advance care planning was originally to help describe legal documents. This process is proved to contribute to improving QOL of patients and their families to discuss preference, hope, economic problems, spiritual question as well as medical treatment In Japan guideline of decision making process in end-of-life stage has been established. A program of communication training in end-of-life discussion has been made. Under current situation some comments on the role of anesthesiologists are also mentioned. PMID:27097506
[Euthanasia and palliative care in the Netherlands].
Boisseau, Nicolas
THE BIRTH OF THE DUTCH LAW: Euthanasia has been recently legalized in the Netherlands (since April 1, 2002). In this Article, we present the various cultural and historical factors that contributed to the law, the guidelines for the procedure and the resulting controversy. THE INTERVENING FACTORS: Internationally, the attitude concerning end of life care are heterogenic and also directly depend on religious and cultural factors. In the Netherlands, the health system promotes the maintenance at home of the terminally ill. However, the financial aspects (private health insurance) interact with the management of these patients. The rules for euthanasia are very strict and a declaration must be registered. Dedicated commissions are organised to control that the rules are applied. The current debate concerns the pertinence of the regulations, the attitude towards handicapped people and children, and the need to develop palliative care. The latter have only recently been developed in the country. The priority is focusing on old peoples' homes. The Netherlands is slow in this regard, but a new draft law is soon to be presented to the Authorities, and will most probably enable the gaps to be bridged. PMID:15105777
Palliative Radiotherapy with or without Additional Care by a Multidisciplinary Palliative Care Team: A Retrospective Comparison
Dalhaug, Astrid; Pawinski, Adam; Aandahl, Gro; Haukland, Ellinor; Engljähringer, Kirsten
Purpose. To analyze pattern of care and survival after palliative radiotherapy (RT) in patients managed exclusively by regular oncology staff or a multidisciplinary palliative care team (MPCT) in addition. Methods. Retrospective analysis of 522 RT courses. Comparison of Two Groups: MPCT versus none. Results. We analyzed 140 RT courses (27%) with MPCT care and 382 without it. The following statistically significant differences were observed: 33% of female patients had MPCT care versus only 23% of male patients and 37% of patients <65 years had MPCT care versus only 22% of older patients. MPCT patients were more likely to have poor performance status and liver metastases. In the MPCT group steroid and opioid use was significantly more common. Dose-fractionation regimens were similar. Median survival was significantly shorter in the MPCT group, 3.9 versus 6.9 months. In multivariate analysis, MPCT care was not associated with survival. Adjusted for confounders, MPCT care reduced the likelihood of incomplete RT by 33%, P > 0.05. Conclusions. Patterns of referral and care differed, for example, regarding age and medication use. It seems possible that MPCT care reduces likelihood of incomplete RT. Therefore, the impact of MPCT care on symptom control should be investigated and objective referral criteria should be developed. PMID:25006507
Palliative Care: The Relief You Need When You're Experiencing Symptoms of Serious Illness
... doctors • palliative care nurses • social workers • chaplains • pharmacists • nutritionists • counselors and others 5 Special care that supports ... including medical and nursing specialists, social workers, pharmacists, nutritionists, clergy and others. Insurance pays for palliative care. ...
A comprehensive review of palliative care in patients with cancer.
Jaiswal, Reena; Alici, Yesne; Breitbart, William
One of the most challenging roles for the psychiatrist is to help guide terminally ill patients physically, psychologically and spiritually through the dying process. Patients with advanced cancer, and other life-threatening medical illnesses are at increased risk for developing major psychiatric complications and have an enormous burden of both physical as well as psychological symptoms. In fact, surveys suggest that psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and hopelessness are as frequent, if not more so, than pain and other physical symptoms in palliative care settings. Psychiatrists have a unique role and opportunity to offer competent and compassionate palliative care to those with life-threatening illness. In this article we provide a comprehensive review of basic concepts and definitions of palliative care and the experience of dying, and the role of the psychiatrist in palliative care including assessment and management of common psychiatric disorders in the terminally ill, with an emphasis on suicide and desire for hastened death. Psychotherapies developed for use in palliative care settings, and management of grief and bereavement are also reviewed. PMID:24716503
Evidence of improved quality of life with pediatric palliative care.
O'Quinn, Lucy P; Giambra, Barbara K
Pediatric nurses provide holistic family-centered care for children with life-limiting illnesses while being sensitive to children's growth and developmental needs. To learn how pediatric palliative care programs benefit children and their families, the following clinical question was asked: Among children with a life-limiting illness, does the use of a palliative care program compared with not using a palliative care program improve quality of life for patients and their families? Evidence from two studies found that palliative care services improve quality of life for children with life-limiting illness and their families in the areas of the child's emotional well-being and parental perception of preparation for the child's end of life, resulting in a low grade for the body of evidence. Future research should include high quality studies with larger sample sizes and control groups, and include children's perspectives--from both patients and siblings--to give a more complete picture of how best to improve their quality of life. A reliable tool is needed that includes a spiritual component and sensitive indicators specific to children with a life-limiting illness. Future research using this tool will more fully answer how palliative care services improve children's quality of life. PMID:25929123
Few Hospital Palliative Care Programs Meet National Staffing Recommendations.
Spetz, Joanne; Dudley, Nancy; Trupin, Laura; Rogers, Maggie; Meier, Diane E; Dumanovsky, Tamara
The predominant model for palliative care delivery, outside of hospice care, is the hospital-based consultative team. Although a majority of US hospitals offer palliative care services, there has been little research on the staffing of their program teams and whether those teams meet national guidelines, such as the Joint Commission's standard of including at least one physician, an advanced practice or other registered nurse, a social worker, and a chaplain. Data from the 2012-13 annual surveys of the National Palliative Care Registry indicate that only 25 percent of participating programs met that standard based on funded positions, and even when unfunded positions were included, only 39 percent of programs met the standard. Larger palliative care programs were more likely than smaller ones to include a funded physician position, while smaller programs were more reliant upon advanced practice and registered nurses. To meet current and future palliative care needs, expanded and enhanced education, as well as supportive financing mechanisms for consultations, are needed. PMID:27605652
Methodological Research Priorities in Palliative Care and Hospice Quality Measurement.
Dy, Sydney Morss; Herr, Keela; Bernacki, Rachelle E; Kamal, Arif H; Walling, Anne M; Ersek, Mary; Norton, Sally A
Quality measurement is a critical tool for improving palliative care and hospice, but significant research is needed to improve the application of quality indicators. We defined methodological priorities for advancing the science of quality measurement in this field based on discussions of the Technical Advisory Panel of the Measuring What Matters consensus project of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association and a subsequent strategy meeting to better clarify research challenges, priorities, and quality measurement implementation strategies. In this article, we describe three key priorities: 1) defining the denominator(s) (or the population of interest) for palliative care quality indicators, 2) developing methods to measure quality from different data sources, and 3) conducting research to advance the development of patient/family-reported indicators. We then apply these concepts to the key quality domain of advance care planning and address relevance to implementation of indicators in improving care. Developing the science of quality measurement in these key areas of palliative care and hospice will facilitate improved quality measurement across all populations with serious illness and care for patients and families. PMID:26596877
Palliative care, double effect and the law in Australia.
White, B P; Willmott, L; Ashby, M
Care and decision-making at the end of life that promotes comfort and dignity is widely endorsed by public policy and the law. In ethical analysis of palliative care interventions that are argued potentially to hasten death, these may be deemed to be ethically permissible by the application of the doctrine of double effect, if the doctor's intention is to relieve pain and not cause death. In part because of the significance of ethics in the development of law in the medical sphere, this doctrine is also likely to be recognized as part of Australia's common law, although hitherto there have been no cases concerning palliative care brought before a court in Australia to test this. Three Australian States have, nonetheless, created legislative defences that are different from the common law with the intent of clarifying the law, promoting palliative care, and distinguishing it from euthanasia. However, these defences have the potential to provide less protection for doctors administering palliative care. In addition to requiring a doctor to have an appropriate intent, the defences insist on adherence to particular medical practice standards and perhaps require patient consent. Doctors providing end-of-life care in these States need to be aware of these legislative changes. Acting in accordance with the common law doctrine of double effect may not provide legal protection. Similar changes are likely to occur in other States and Territories as there is a trend towards enacting legislative defences that deal with the provision of palliative care. PMID:21707893
The burgeoning field of transdisciplinary adaptation research in Quebec (1998–): a climate change-related public health narrative
Gosselin, Pierre; Bélanger, Diane; Lapaige, Véronique; Labbé, Yolaine
This paper presents a public health narrative on Quebec's new climatic conditions and human health, and describes the transdisciplinary nature of the climate change adaptation research currently being adopted in Quebec, characterized by the three phases of problem identification, problem investigation, and problem transformation. A transdisciplinary approach is essential for dealing with complex ill-defined problems concerning human–environment interactions (for example, climate change), for allowing joint research, collective leadership, complex collaborations, and significant exchanges among scientists, decision makers, and knowledge users. Such an approach is widely supported in theory but has proved to be extremely difficult to implement in practice, and those who attempt it have met with heavy resistance, succeeding when they find the occasional opportunity within institutional or social contexts. In this paper we narrate the ongoing struggle involved in tackling the negative effects of climate change in multi-actor contexts at local and regional levels, a struggle that began in a quiet way in 1998. The paper will describe how public health adaptation research is supporting transdisciplinary action and implementation while also preparing for the future, and how this interaction to tackle a life-world problem (adaptation of the Quebec public health sector to climate change) in multi-actors contexts has progressively been established during the last 13 years. The first of the two sections introduces the social context of a Quebec undergoing climate changes. Current climatic conditions and expected changes will be described, and attendant health risks for the Quebec population. The second section addresses the scientific, institutional and normative dimensions of the problem. It corresponds to a "public health narrative" presented in three phases: (1) problem identification (1998–2002) beginning in northern Quebec; (2) problem investigation (2002–2006
The burgeoning field of transdisciplinary adaptation research in Quebec (1998-): a climate change-related public health narrative.
Gosselin, Pierre; Bélanger, Diane; Lapaige, Véronique; Labbé, Yolaine
This paper presents a public health narrative on Quebec's new climatic conditions and human health, and describes the transdisciplinary nature of the climate change adaptation research currently being adopted in Quebec, characterized by the three phases of problem identification, problem investigation, and problem transformation. A transdisciplinary approach is essential for dealing with complex ill-defined problems concerning human-environment interactions (for example, climate change), for allowing joint research, collective leadership, complex collaborations, and significant exchanges among scientists, decision makers, and knowledge users. Such an approach is widely supported in theory but has proved to be extremely difficult to implement in practice, and those who attempt it have met with heavy resistance, succeeding when they find the occasional opportunity within institutional or social contexts. In this paper we narrate the ongoing struggle involved in tackling the negative effects of climate change in multi-actor contexts at local and regional levels, a struggle that began in a quiet way in 1998. The paper will describe how public health adaptation research is supporting transdisciplinary action and implementation while also preparing for the future, and how this interaction to tackle a life-world problem (adaptation of the Quebec public health sector to climate change) in multi-actors contexts has progressively been established during the last 13 years. The first of the two sections introduces the social context of a Quebec undergoing climate changes. Current climatic conditions and expected changes will be described, and attendant health risks for the Quebec population. The second section addresses the scientific, institutional and normative dimensions of the problem. It corresponds to a "public health narrative" presented in three phases: (1) problem identification (1998-2002) beginning in northern Quebec; (2) problem investigation (2002-2006) in which
Valuing ecosystem services: theory, practice, and the need for a transdisciplinary synthesis.
Liu, Shuang; Costanza, Robert; Farber, Stephen; Troy, Austin
The concept of ecosystem services has shifted our paradigm of how nature matters to human societies. Instead of viewing the preservation of nature as something for which we have to sacrifice our well-being, we now perceive the environment as natural capital, one of society's important assets. But ecosystem services are becoming increasingly scarce. In order to stop this trend, the challenge is to provoke society to acknowledge the value of natural capital. Ecosystem services valuation (ESV) is the method to tackle such a challenge. ESV is the process of assessing the contributions of ecosystem services to sustainable scale, fair distribution, and efficient allocation. It is a tool that (1) provides for comparisons of natural capital to physical and human capital in regard to their contributions to human welfare; (2) monitors the quantity and quality of natural capital over time with respect to its contribution to human welfare; and (3) provides for evaluation of projects that will affect natural capital stocks. This review covers: (1) what has been done in ESV research in the last 50 years; (2) how it has been used in ecosystem management; and (3) prospects for the future. Our survey of the literature has shown that over time, there has been movement toward a more transdisciplinary approach to ESV research which is more consistent with the nature of the problems being addressed. On the other hand, the contribution of ESV to ecosystem management has not been as significant as hoped nor as clearly defined. Conclusions drawn from the review are as follows: first, ESV researchers will have to transcend disciplinary boundaries and synthesize tools, skills, and methodologies from various disciplines; second, ESV research has to become more problem-driven rather than tool-driven because ultimately the success of ESV will be judged on how well it facilitates real-world decision making and the conservation of natural capital. PMID:20146762
When and why should patients with hematologic malignancies see a palliative care specialist?
LeBlanc, Thomas W; El-Jawahri, Areej
Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach to symptom management, psychosocial support, and assistance in treatment decision-making for patients with serious illness and their families. It emphasizes well-being at any point along the disease trajectory, regardless of prognosis. The term "palliative care" is often incorrectly used as a synonym for end-of-life care, or "hospice care". However, palliative care does not require a terminal diagnosis or proximity to death, a misconception that we will address in this article. Multiple randomized clinical trials demonstrate the many benefits of early integration of palliative care for patients with cancer, including reductions in symptom burden, improvements in quality-of-life, mood, and overall survival, as well as improved caregiver outcomes. Thus, early concurrent palliative care integrated with cancer-directed care has emerged as a standard-of-care practice for patients with cancer. However, patients with hematologic malignancies rarely utilize palliative care services, despite their many unmet palliative care needs, and are much less likely to use palliative care compared to patients with solid tumors. In this article, we will define "palliative care" and address some common misconceptions regarding its role as part of high-quality care for patients with cancer. We will then review the evidence supporting the integration of palliative care into comprehensive cancer care, discuss perceived barriers to palliative care in hematologic malignancies, and suggest opportunities and triggers for earlier and more frequent palliative care referral in this population. PMID:26637760
The Role and Timing of Palliative Care in Supporting Persons with Intellectual Disability and Advanced Dementia
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
McCarron, Mary; McCallion, Philip; Fahey-McCarthy, Elizabeth; Connaire, Kevin
Aim: To better describe the role and timing of palliative care in supporting persons with intellectual disabilities and advanced dementia (AD). Background: Specialist palliative care providers have focused mostly on people with cancers. Working with persons with intellectual disabilities and AD offers opportunities to expand such palliative care…
Development of a Palliative Education Assessment Tool for Medical Student Education.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Meekin, Sharon Abele; Klein, Jason E.; Fleischman, Alan R.; Fins, Joseph J.
Describes the Palliative Education Assessment Tool (PEAT), an innovative assessment to facilitate curricular mapping of palliative care education. The PEAT comprises seven palliative care domains, each of which details specific objectives of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. PEAT enables educators to describe a specific multidimensional aspect of…
Physician-assisted death with limited access to palliative care.
Barutta, Joaquín; Vollmann, Jochen
Even among advocates of legalising physician-assisted death, many argue that this should be done only once palliative care has become widely available. Meanwhile, according to them, physician-assisted death should be banned. Four arguments are often presented to support this claim, which we call the argument of lack of autonomy, the argument of existing alternatives, the argument of unfair inequalities and the argument of the antagonism between physician-assisted death and palliative care. We argue that although these arguments provide strong reasons to take appropriate measures to guarantee access to good quality palliative care to everyone who needs it, they do not justify a ban on physician-assisted death until we have achieved this goal. PMID:25614156
Practical Issues in Palliative and Quality-of-Life Care
Hennessy, John E.; Lown, Beth A.; Landzaat, Lindy; Porter-Williamson, Karin
Although palliative care is not new to health care or to oncology, oncologists still struggle to maximize the value of this type of care across the entire care continuum and across the patient's trajectory of illness. When we don't use what may be the best tools for the job, at the right times in the care path, we miss opportunities to optimize patient and family coping, to limit suffering, and to ensure that our care plans are patient centered. In this article, we look at how we define palliative care and how the tools of palliative medicine can be used to enhance patient care in the outpatient oncology practice setting. PMID:23814513
Palliative care outcome measures in COPD patients: a conceptual review.
Antoniu, Sabina Antonela; Boiculese, Lucian Vasile
In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), palliative care is appropriate in very advanced stages based on recognition of its need when conventional therapy is no longer able to control symptoms, disease morbidity, or to improve/maintain an acceptable quality of life. Palliative care aims to improve quality of life, or, if applied specifically at the end-of-life, to ensure comfortable care. In COPD palliative care effectiveness of interventions should be quantified with outcome measures able to better capture the holistic nature of approaches and not only the specific features of disease. These should include: physical outcomes, psychological outcomes, social outcomes, spiritual outcomes. Such measures are discussed in this review along with arguments supporting their use. PMID:26967768
The management of family conflict in palliative care.
Lichtenthal, Wendy G; Kissane, David W
We review the literature on family conflict in palliative care. The prevalence and common sources of conflict are discussed, including historical issues of tension, differing coping styles, the division of labour, and the presence of acute or chronic mental illness within the family. Assessment and intervention strategies used in Family Focused Grief Therapy (FFGT), a family-centred preventive intervention that begins during palliative care and continues during bereavement, are presented, with special consideration given to research on treatment decision-making, cultural issues, special-needs populations, and the management of crises within the family. We conclude with a discussion of challenges that frequently impede conflict resolution and with suggestions for addressing these difficulties in the palliative care setting. PMID:24027358
Reflections on Palliative Care from the Jewish and Islamic Tradition
Schultz, Michael; Baddarni, Kassim; Bar-Sela, Gil
Spiritual care is a vital part of holistic patient care. Awareness of common patient beliefs will facilitate discussions about spirituality. Such conversations are inherently good for the patient, deepen the caring staff-patient-family relationship, and enhance understanding of how beliefs influence care decisions. All healthcare providers are likely to encounter Muslim patients, yet many lack basic knowledge of the Muslim faith and of the applications of Islamic teachings to palliative care. Similarly, some of the concepts underlying positive Jewish approaches to palliative care are not well known. We outline Jewish and Islamic attitudes toward suffering, treatment, and the end of life. We discuss our religions' approaches to treatments deemed unnecessary by medical staff, and consider some of the cultural reasons that patients and family members might object to palliative care, concluding with specific suggestions for the medical team. PMID:22203878
Diet and Nutrition in Cancer Survivorship and Palliative Care
Bazzan, Anthony J.; Newberg, Andrew B.; Cho, William C.; Monti, Daniel A.
The primary goal of palliative cancer care is typically to relieve suffering and improve quality of life. Most approaches to diet in this setting have focused only on eating as many calories as possible to avoid cachexia. However, as the concept of palliative care has evolved to include all aspects of cancer survivorship and not just end of life care, there is an increasing need to thoughtfully consider diet and nutrition approaches that can impact not only quality of life but overall health outcomes and perhaps even positively affect cancer recurrence and progression. In this regard, there has been a recent emphasis in the literature on nutrition and cancer as an important factor in both quality of life and in the pathophysiology of cancer. Hence, the primary purpose of this paper is to review the current data on diet and nutrition as it pertains to a wide range of cancer patients in the palliative care setting. PMID:24288570
The importance of measuring customer satisfaction in palliative care.
Turriziani, Adriana; Attanasio, Gennaro; Scarcella, Francesco; Sangalli, Luisa; Scopa, Anna; Genualdo, Alessandra; Quici, Stefano; Nazzicone, Giulia; Ricciotti, Maria Adelaide; La Commare, Francesco
In the last decades, palliative care has been more and more focused on the evaluation of patients' and families' satisfaction with care. However, the evaluation of customer satisfaction in palliative care presents a number of issues such as the presence of both patients and their families, the frail condition of the patients and the complexity of their needs, and the lack of standard quality indicators and appropriate measurement tools. In this manuscript, we critically review existing evidence and literature on the evaluation of satisfaction in the palliative care context. Moreover, we provide - as a practical example - the preliminary results of our experience in this setting with the development of a dedicated tool for the measurement of satisfaction. PMID:26837318
Negotiating futility, managing emotions: nursing the transition to palliative care.
Broom, Alex; Kirby, Emma; Good, Phillip; Wootton, Julia; Yates, Patsy; Hardy, Janet
Nurses play a pivotal role in caring for patients during the transition from life-prolonging care to palliative care. This is an area of nursing prone to emotional difficulty, interpersonal complexity, and interprofessional conflict. It is situated within complex social dynamics, including those related to establishing and accepting futility and reconciling the desire to maintain hope. Here, drawing on interviews with 20 Australian nurses, we unpack their accounts of nursing the transition to palliative care, focusing on the purpose of nursing at the point of transition; accounts of communication and strategies for representing palliative care; emotional engagement and burden; and key interprofessional challenges. We argue that in caring for patients approaching the end of life, nurses occupy precarious interpersonal and interprofessional spaces that involve a negotiated order around sentimental work, providing them with both capital (privileged access) and burden (emotional suffering) within their day-to-day work. PMID:25246331
Development and efficacy of music therapy techniques within palliative care.
Clements-Cortés, Amy
Music therapy is increasingly becoming an intervention used in palliative care settings around the globe. While the specialty of palliative care music therapy is relatively young having emerged in the late 1980s, there is a strong and growing body of evidence demonstrating its efficacy in assisting a variety of issues common at end-of-life. There are multiple music therapy techniques that are implemented with clients in palliative care and they can be categorized in four broad areas: receptive, creative, recreative and combined. These techniques will be presented with respect to their development by clinicians as supported by the descriptive and research literature. Information is also provided on the use of music therapy in facilitating the grieving and bereavement process. PMID:25986297
Statin-Based Palliative Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Shao, Joni Yu-Hsuan; Lee, Fei-Peng; Chang, Chia-Lun; Wu, Szu-Yuan
Abstract Most hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients worldwide do not receive curative treatments. Alternative treatments for most HCC patients include palliative treatments, such as transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Although statins may be a chemopreventive treatment option for reducing hepatitis B virus (HBV)- and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC risks, their therapeutic effects are unknown. This study evaluated the effects of statin on HCC patients receiving palliative treatment. Data from the National Health Insurance claims database and cancer registry databases of The Collaboration Center of Health Information Application, Taiwan, were analyzed. We included HCC patients who were treated between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2010, and followed them from the index date to December 31, 2012. The inclusion criteria were presence of HBV carrier-related HCC, age >20 years, and having received TACE, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy as palliative treatment. The exclusion criteria were cancer diagnosis before HCC was confirmed, surgery, liver transplantation, radiofrequency ablation, or percutaneous ethanol injection as curative treatment, missing sex-related information, HCC diagnosis before HBV, and age <20 years. We enrolled 20,200 HCC patients. The median follow-up duration was 1.66 years (interquartile range, 0.81). In total, 1988 and 18,212 patients received palliative treatment with and without statin use, respectively. HCC patients who received palliative treatment with statin use had lower HCC-specific deaths in all stages than those who received palliative treatment without statin use (P = 0.0001, 0.0002, 0.0012, and 0.0002, and relative risk (RR) = 0.763, 0.775, 0.839, and 0.718, for stages I–IV, respectively). In all-cause and HCC-specific deaths, decreasing trends (P for trend <0.0001) of adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) were observed in all stages with no treatment, statin use only, palliative treatment
Clinical trials in palliative care: an ethical evaluation.
Janssens, R; Gordijn, B
On first sight, clinical trials do not seem to fit well within the concept of palliative care. In palliative care, the needs and wishes of the patient set the norm while participation in experimental trials is potentially harmful for the patient. The dilemma seems hard to solve as optimal care for the dying and improvement of treatment for future patients are both imperative. Yet, the one seems to exclude the other. However, on closer examination it becomes less evident that clinical trials in palliative care confront us with an unsolvable dilemma. Some patients' lives may gain meaning through participation in trials out of solidarity with future patients. In order to clarify this, the notions of authenticity and hope can be illuminative. PMID:10900367
Centers of Excellence: A Catalogue
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Phelps, Paul B. (Compiler)
This report summarizes information on State-sponsored 'Centers of Excellence' gathered during a survey of State programs in the Fall of 1987. For the purposes of this catalog, 'Centers of Excellence' refers to organizations or activities with the following characteristics: institutionalized, focused, cooperative Research and Development (R&D) programs; supported in part by State governments, in addition to universities, industry and (in some cases) Federal agencies; performed by teams that may include both industry and university employees; and concentrated on relatively specific R&D agendas, usually with near term commercial or governmental applicability. Most of these activities involve state-of-the-art advancement of new technologies under conditions leading to early practical applications. Not included in this catalog are project-level matching grant programs. The principal purpose of this catalog is to help NASA program management, at all levels. to identify and where appropriate, to initiate relationships with other technology-developing organizations. These State-sponsored programs should be of particular interest, because: they present an opportunity to leverage NASA's R&D investments; they are concentrated at the frontier, yet have a concern for practical applications; and they involve industrial participation under conditions that increase the probability of prompt, widespread dissemination in the form of new or enhanced commercial products, processes, or services.
College Astronomy Teaching Excellence Workshops
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Slater, T. F.; Bennett, M.; Greene, W. M.; Pompea, S.; Prather, E. E.
As part of the education and public outreach efforts of the NASA JPL Navigator, SIRTF Mission and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, astronomy educators affiliated with the Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research (CAPER) Team at the University of Arizona are conducting a series of two- and three-day teaching excellence workshops for college faculty. These workshops are being held in conjunction with professional society meetings, such as the American Astronomical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers, and through the infrastructure of the National Science Foundation's Summer Chautauqua Workshop program. This three-day, interactive teaching excellence workshop focuses on dilemmas astronomy teachers face and develop practical solutions for the troubling issues in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. After reviewing the latest research about how students learn, participants define and set measurable student learning goals and objectives for students in their astronomy courses and construct effective course syllabi reflecting the ASTRO 101 goals publicized by the AAS. To improve instruction, participants learn how to create productive learning environments by using interactive lectures, peer instruction, engaging demonstrations, collaborative groups, tutorials, computer-based laboratories, and observational projects. Participants also learn how to write more effective multiple-choice tests and implement authentic assessment strategies including portfolio assessment, performance tasks, and concept maps. Texts provided at the workshop are: (i) Learner-Centered Astronomy Teaching, Slater and Adams, Prentice Hall, 2002; (ii) Great Ideas for Teaching Astronomy, Pompea, Brooks Cole, 2000; and (iii) Lecture-Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy, Adams, Prather, & Slater, Prentice Hall, 2002.
Model for the First NIH-funded Center of Excellence in End-of-Life Research
Keenan, Gail M.; Kavanaugh, Karen; Wilkie, Diana J.; Bonner, Gloria; Ryan, Catherine; Fischer, Dena J.; Savage, Teresa; Choi, Heeseung; Burgener, Sandy C.; Foreman, Marquis D.; Yan, Han
Centers of excellence are widely acknowledged as a mechanism to promote scientific advances in a particular field of science, but until recently there have been no end-of-life or palliative care research centers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of this article is to describe aims, framework, and organizational structure of the first NIH-funded Center of Excellence on end-of-life research, the Center for End-of-Life Transition Research (CEoLTR), and the advances in end-of-life research that the CEoLTR will facilitate. The teams of researchers involved in the CEoLTR have grown impressively since it was funded in 2007. Collectively, the teams are on target to accomplish all of the original goals for this five year award. PMID:23762014
Treating nausea and vomiting in palliative care: a review
Glare, Paul; Miller, Jeanna; Nikolova, Tanya; Tickoo, Roma
Nausea and vomiting are portrayed in the specialist palliative care literature as common and distressing symptoms affecting the majority of patients with advanced cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. However, recent surveys indicate that these symptoms may be less common and bothersome than has previously been reported. The standard palliative care approach to the assessment and treatment of nausea and vomiting is based on determining the cause and then relating this back to the "emetic pathway" before prescribing drugs such as dopamine antagonists, antihistamines, and anticholinergic agents which block neurotransmitters at different sites along the pathway. However, the evidence base for the effectiveness of this approach is meager, and may be in part because relevance of the neuropharmacology of the emetic pathway to palliative care patients is limited. Many palliative care patients are over the age of 65 years, making these agents difficult to use. Greater awareness of drug interactions and QTc prolongation are emerging concerns for all age groups. The selective serotonin receptor antagonists are the safest antiemetics, but are not used first-line in many countries because there is very little scientific rationale or clinical evidence to support their use outside the licensed indications. Cannabinoids may have an increasing role. Advances in interventional gastroenterology are increasing the options for nonpharmacological management. Despite these emerging issues, the approach to nausea and vomiting developed within palliative medicine over the past 40 years remains relevant. It advocates careful clinical evaluation of the symptom and the person suffering it, and an understanding of the clinical pharmacology of medicines that are available for palliating them. PMID:21966219
Excellence and Education: Rhetoric and Reality
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gillies, Donald
"Excellence" has been a prevalent term in New Labour rhetoric on education, most notably in the stated goal of "excellence for all" in education. Despite that, the meaning of the term has remained imprecise, and the implications of universal excellence unclear. In this paper, three distinct definitions of excellence are identified and the…
Palliative care for people with dementia: a literature review.
Lillyman, Sue; Bruce, Mary
With growing numbers of people dying with, and from, dementia there is a need for professionals and health-care organisations to review the access to and provision of palliative care. This literature review has identified several key themes in relation to the person dying with dementia including: diagnosis of the dying phase, appropriate timing of referral to specialist palliative care services; ethical decisions in relation to medication and nutrition; the environment; undertreatment especially, for pain relief; over and burdensome treatment interventions; carer involvement; collaborative working and advance decision making. PMID:26926347
Palliative Home Care: A Designer's Perspective
Bhatnagar, Tigmanshu
The purpose for this observational research was to understand how Can Support provides palliative care at home and analyze its strengths and weaknesses in various socioeconomic scenarios for future development. In the period of 2 weeks, patients and their caregivers were silently observed in their natural surroundings during home care visits in order to listen their problems, identify the pattern of questions for the home care team, their natural way of storytelling, organizational techniques for medicines and medical reports, care givers lives, patient journey, etc. Such observations have enabled the understanding of the phenomena of home palliative care and have led to the identification of certain influential variables of the practice. PMID:26009683
Life is uncertain. death is certain. Buddhism and palliative care.
Masel, Eva K; Schur, Sophie; Watzke, Herbert H
It is part of a palliative care assessment to identify patients' spiritual needs. According to Buddhism, suffering is inherent to all human beings. Advice on how suffering can be reduced in the course of serious illness might be helpful to patients with incurable and progressive diseases. Palliative care could benefit from Buddhist insights in the form of compassionate care and relating death to life. Buddhist teachings may lead to a more profound understanding of incurable diseases and offer patients the means by which to focus their minds while dealing with physical symptoms and ailments. This might not only be beneficial to followers of Buddhism but to all patients. PMID:22871512
Dimensions of privacy in palliative care: views of health professionals.
Street, Annette F; Love, Anthony
This paper explores the dimensions of privacy evident in the views of practice of health professionals in different inpatient palliative care settings. Eighty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with doctors, nurses and pastoral carers at 12 Australian regional and metropolitan locations. Transcribed interviews were coded and discursively content analysed. Privacy was one category that emerged in the transcript analysis. Results showed the necessity of attending to the physical, psycho-social and moral dimensions of privacy in the provision of palliative care that respects dignity, autonomy and supportive social relationships. PMID:15686810
Motion monitoring in palliative care using unobtrusive bed sensors.
Holtzman, M; Goubran, R; Knoefel, F
Palliative care needs are growing with the aging population. Ambient sensors offer patients comfortable and discreet point-of-care monitoring. In this study, two palliative care participants were monitored in a sensorized bed. Motion monitoring by a two-tier gross and fine movement detector provided accurate detection and classification of movement, compared to annotations by an observer. However, ascribing the motion to the patient rather than caregivers or visitors would require supplemental sensors. Motion was indicative of pain, with 13% of time spent moving while in pain versus 3% while not noted as in pain. PMID:25571304
Improving palliative care outcomes for Aboriginal Australians: service providers' perspectives
Background Aboriginal Australians have a lower rate of utilisation of palliative care services than the general population. This study aimed to explore care providers' experiences and concerns in providing palliative care for Aboriginal people, and to identify opportunities for overcoming gaps in understanding between them and their Aboriginal patients and families. Methods In-depth, qualitative interviews with urban, rural and remote palliative care providers were undertaken in inpatient and community settings in Western Australia. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded independently by two researchers with QSR NVivo 10 software used to help manage data. Data analysis was informed by multiple theoretical standpoints, including the social ecological model, critical cultural theories and the 'cultural security' framework. Thematic analysis was carried out that identified patterns within data. Results Fifteen palliative care providers were interviewed. Overall they reported lack of understanding of Aboriginal culture and being uncertain of the needs and priorities of Aboriginal people during end-of-life care. According to several participants, very few Aboriginal people had an understanding of palliative care. Managing issues such as anger, denial, the need for non-medical support due to socioeconomic disadvantage, and dealing with crises and conflicts over funeral arrangements were reported as some of the tensions between Aboriginal patients and families and the service providers. Conclusion Early referral to palliative care is important in demonstrating and maintaining a caring therapeutic relationship. Paramount to meeting the needs for Aboriginal patients was access to appropriate information and logistical, psychological and emotional support. These were often seen as essential but additional to standard palliative care services. The broader context of Aboriginal history and historical distrust of mainstream services was seen to
Surgery offers the best palliation for carcinoma of the pancreas.
Bailey, I. S.; Keating, J.; Johnson, C. D.
This debate discusses the palliative management of pancreatic cancer. The arguments in favour of surgical palliation are that this approach allows all symptoms to be treated or prevented, the diagnosis can be confirmed histologically and a final assessment of resectability can be made. The arguments against the use of surgery are that survival is short and that effective alternative therapies are available: endoscopic intubation, percutaneous coeliac plexus block and pancreatic enzyme supplements. The most appropriate policy, however, is to tailor the management plan to suit the individual patient. PMID:1713754
Integrating Pediatric Palliative Care into the School and Community.
Davis, Kathleen G
Children and adolescents with complex chronic conditions often receive pediatric palliative care (PPC) from health care professionals. However, children's needs exist both in a health care context and in the community where children interact with peers, including school, places of worship, sports, activities, and organizations. Partnerships between PPC professionals in health care settings and teachers, coaches, spiritual leaders, activity directors, and others, may lead to greater health and well-being. Children near the end of life or those with out-of-hospital do-not-resuscitate orders may also find palliation in their community. Cooperation between all caregivers benefit the child and family. PMID:27565367
(Center of excellence: Microlaser microscope)
Webb, R.H.
This Center-of-Excellence grant has two components: development of an imaging system based on microlaser arrays forms a central project among a group of laser diagnostic and therapeutic efforts primarily funded outside the grant. In these first 8 months we have set up the Microlaser Microscope using small microlaser arrays. We have emphasized the basics of microlaser handling and electronic addressing and the optics of the microscope. Details of electronics and optics given here will be used in the larger arrays which should be available soon. After a description of the central Microlaser Microscope project, we touch briefly on the other projects of the Center, which have been outstandingly fruitful this year. Publications are necessarily concerned with the smaller projects, since the Microlaser Microscope is in its early stages.
Center of excellence: Microlaser microscope
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Webb, R. H.
This Center-of-Excellence grant has two components: development of an imaging system based on microlaser arrays forms a central project among a group of laser diagnostic and therapeutic efforts primarily funded outside the grant. In these first 8 months we have set up the Microlaser Microscope using small microlaser arrays. We have emphasized the basics of microlaser handling and electronic addressing and the optics of the microscope. Details of electronics and optics given here will be used in the larger arrays which should be available soon. After a description of the central Microlaser Microscope project, we touch briefly on the other projects of the Center, which have been outstandingly fruitful this year. Publications are necessarily concerned with the smaller projects, since the Microlaser Microscope is in its early stages.
The benefits of expanded physician assistant practice in hospice and palliative medicine.
Boucher, Nathan A; Nix, Harvey
Patients with advanced or terminal illness, especially racial and ethnic minorities, would benefit from greater access to hospice and palliative care. Expanding the PA role in these areas would help fill gaps in both access and patients' understanding of what hospice and palliative care can offer. This article describes why hospice and palliative care are needed, what PAs can and do offer hospice and palliative care delivery, and what challenges should be overcome to expand PA practice in hospice and palliative care. The article also reviews the legislative outlook for PA practice in hospice care. PMID:27575903
Palliative Care Psychiatry: Update on an Emerging Dimension of Psychiatric Practice
Fairman, Nathan
Palliative care psychiatry is an emerging subspecialty field at the intersection of Palliative Medicine and Psychiatry. The discipline brings expertise in understanding the psychosocial dimensions of human experience to the care of dying patients and support of their families. The goals of this review are (1) to briefly define palliative care and summarize the evidence for its benefits, (2) to describe the roles for psychiatry within palliative care, (3) to review recent advances in the research and practice of palliative care psychiatry, and (4) to delineate some steps ahead as this sub-field continues to develop, in terms of research, education, and systems-based practice. PMID:23794027
When is an invasive palliative intervention in an acute internal medical patient worth it? A structured palliative approach.
Weber, Thomas; Strasser, Florian
A 67-year-old patient with coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was scheduled for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery after a recent myocardial infarction despite a high perioperative risk of death. While waiting, acute renal failure developed, and the patient was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). After the patient and his wife were informed that CABG surgery was no longer possible, he declined further intensive care treatment and subsequently died peacefully.We show that a structured palliative approach which has been proposed for cancer patients may also be feasible in palliative situations concerning nononcologic patients. PMID:26620468
What Makes a Good Palliative Care Physician? A Qualitative Study about the Patient's Expectations and Needs when Being Admitted to a Palliative Care Unit
Masel, Eva K; Kitta, Anna; Huber, Patrick; Rumpold, Tamara; Unseld, Matthias; Schur, Sophie; Porpaczy, Edit; Watzke, Herbert H
Objective The aims of the study were to examine a) patients' knowledge of palliative care, b) patients' expectations and needs when being admitted to a palliative care unit, and c) patient's concept of a good palliative care physician. Methods The study was based on a qualitative methodology, comprising 32 semistructured interviews with advanced cancer patients admitted to the palliative care unit of the Medical University of Vienna. Interviews were conducted with 20 patients during the first three days after admission to the unit and after one week, recorded digitally, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using NVivo 10 software, based on thematic analysis enhanced with grounded theory techniques. Results The results revealed four themes: (1) information about palliative care, (2) supportive care needs, (3) being treated in a palliative care unit, and (4) qualities required of palliative care physicians. The data showed that patients lack information about palliative care, that help in social concerns plays a central role in palliative care, and attentiveness as well as symptom management are important to patients. Patients desire a personal patient-physician relationship. The qualities of a good palliative care physician were honesty, the ability to listen, taking time, being experienced in their field, speaking the patient's language, being human, and being gentle. Patients experienced relief when being treated in a palliative care unit, perceived their care as an interdisciplinary activity, and felt that their burdensome symptoms were being attended to with emotional care. Negative perceptions included the overtly intense treatment. Conclusions The results of the present study offer an insight into what patients expect from palliative care teams. Being aware of patient's needs will enable medical teams to improve professional and individualized care. PMID:27389693
A dynamical approach toward understanding mechanisms of team science: change, kinship, tension, and heritage in a transdisciplinary team.
Lotrecchiano, Gaetano R
Since the concept of team science gained recognition among biomedical researchers, social scientists have been challenged with investigating evidence of team mechanisms and functional dynamics within transdisciplinary teams. Identification of these mechanisms has lacked substantial research using grounded theory models to adequately describe their dynamical qualities. Research trends continue to favor the measurement of teams by isolating occurrences of production over relational mechanistic team tendencies. This study uses a social constructionist-grounded multilevel mixed methods approach to identify social dynamics and mechanisms within a transdisciplinary team. A National Institutes of Health-funded research team served as a sample. Data from observations, interviews, and focus groups were qualitatively coded to generate micro/meso level analyses. Social mechanisms operative within this biomedical scientific team were identified. Dynamics that support such mechanisms were documented and explored. Through theoretical and emergent coding, four social mechanisms dominated in the analysis-change, kinship, tension, and heritage. Each contains relational social dynamics. This micro/meso level study suggests such mechanisms and dynamics are key features of team science and as such can inform problems of integration, praxis, and engagement in teams. PMID:23919361
The Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers: Transdisciplinary Research on the Role of the Environment in Breast Cancer Etiology
Hiatt, Robert A.; Haslam, Sandra Z.; Osuch, Janet
Objectives We introduce and describe the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers (BCERC), a research network with a transdisciplinary approach to elucidating the role of environmental factors in pubertal development as a window on breast cancer etiology. We describe the organization of four national centers integrated into the BCERC network. Data sources Investigators use a common conceptual framework based on multiple levels of biologic, behavioral, and social organization across the life span. The approach connects basic biologic studies with rodent models and tissue culture systems, a coordinated multicenter epidemiologic cohort study of prepubertal girls, and the integration of community members of breast cancer advocates as key members of the research team to comprise the network. Data extraction Relevant literature is reviewed that describes current knowledge across levels of organization. Individual research questions and hypotheses in BCERC are driven by gaps in our knowledge that are presented at genetic, metabolic, cellular, individual, and environmental (physical and social) levels. Data synthesis As data collection on the cohort, animal experiments, and analyses proceed, results will be synthesized through a transdisciplinary approach. Conclusion Center investigators are addressing a large number of specific research questions related to early pubertal onset, which is an established risk factor for breast cancer. BCERC research findings aimed at the primary prevention of breast cancer will be disseminated to the scientific community and to the public by breast cancer advocates, who have been integral members of the research process from its inception. PMID:20049199
A transdisciplinary perspective on the links between malaria and agroecosystems in Kenya.
Mutero, C M; Kabutha, C; Kimani, V; Kabuage, L; Gitau, G; Ssennyonga, J; Githure, J; Muthami, L; Kaida, A; Musyoka, L; Kiarie, E; Oganda, M
V consisted of end-of-project workshops for the dissemination of research results and participatory decision-making regarding follow-up actions. Owing to the utilization of a transdisciplinary and participatory approach to research, it was possible to identify opportunities for maintaining zooprophylaxis for malaria in Mwea, through the integration of agroecosystem practices aimed at sustaining livestock systems within a broader strategy for rural development. PMID:14732239
Developing a service model that integrates palliative care throughout cancer care: the time is now.
Partridge, Ann H; Seah, Davinia S E; King, Tari; Leighl, Natasha B; Hauke, Ralph; Wollins, Dana S; Von Roenn, Jamie Hayden
Palliative care is a fundamental component of cancer care. As part of the 2011 to 2012 Leadership Development Program (LDP) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), a group of participants was charged with advising ASCO on how to develop a service model integrating palliative care throughout the continuum of cancer care. This article presents the findings of the LDP group. The group focused on the process of palliative care delivery in the oncology setting. We identified key elements for models of palliative care in various settings to be potentially equitable, sustainable, feasible, and acceptable, and here we describe a dynamic model for the integrated, simultaneous implementation of palliative care into oncology practice. We also discuss critical considerations to better integrate palliative care into oncology, including raising consciousness and educating both providers and the public about the importance of palliative care; coordinating palliative care efforts through strengthening affiliations and/or developing new partnerships; prospectively evaluating the impact of palliative care on patient and provider satisfaction, quality improvement, and cost savings; and ensuring sustainability through adequate reimbursement and incentives, including linkage of performance data to quality indicators, and coordination with training efforts and maintenance of certification requirements for providers. In light of these findings, we believe the confluence of increasing importance of incorporation of palliative care education in oncology education, emphasis on value-based care, growing use of technology, and potential cost savings makes developing and incorporating palliative care into current service models a meaningful goal. PMID:25199756
Vietnam: integrating palliative care into HIV/AIDS and cancer care.
Krakauer, Eric L; Ngoc, Nguyen Thi Minh; Green, Kimberly; Van Kham, Le; Khue, Luong Ngoc
Vietnam is struggling to meet the growing need for both disease-modifying and palliative care for people with life-threatening chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS and cancer. Recently, Vietnam initiated rapid development of a national palliative care program for HIV/AIDS and cancer patients that builds on existing palliative care programs and experience and integrates palliative care into standard HIV/AIDS and cancer care. National palliative care guidelines have been issued by the Ministry of Health based on a rapid situation analysis. Plans now call for review and revision of opioid laws and regulations to increase availability of opioids for medical use, training in palliative care for clinicians throughout the country, and development of palliative care programs both in the community and in inpatient referral centers. PMID:17482051
Hybrid Palliation for Neonates With Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: Current Strategies and Outcomes
Honjo, Osami
In the last decade the hybrid procedure has emerged as an alternative stage I palliation in neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). This review discusses the historical aspect, surgical and interventional techniques, current outcomes and future direction of this procedure. Hybrid palliation yields equivalent but not superior stage I palliation survival and comparable 1-year survival to conventional Norwood palliation, comparable prestage II hemodynamics and pulmonary artery growth, and preserved ventricular function in stage II palliation. Hybrid palliation utilizes significantly less resource and shortens postoperative recovery. In comprehensive stage II palliation the impact of pulmonary artery reconstruction on subsequent pulmonary artery growth has not been determined and should be further investigated. A prospective, randomized trial is warranted to compare these two surgical strategies for neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. PMID:20339493
Design of a Postgraduate Course in Palliative Care.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Adriaansen, Marian J. M.; Frederiks, Carla M. A.
A postgraduate course on palliative nursing includes four class sessions and four peer review meetings in which students discuss case studies and assignments. The course is intended to prepare nurses for the bureaucratic, biomedical, social-therapeutic, and informal roles of terminal care. (SK)
Inoperable esophageal cancer and outcome of palliative care
Besharat, Sima; Jabbari, Ali; Semnani, Shahryar; Keshtkar, Abbasali; Marjani, Jeran
AIM: To determine the outcome of esophageal cancer patients referred for palliative care, in Gorgan and Gonbad gastrointestinal clinics, northeast of Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was done on inoperable esophageal cancer cases referred to gastrointestinal clinics in Gorgan and Gonbad city (2005-2006). Demographic data were collected during the procedure and cases were followed up every one month. Improvement proportion was calculated with 95% confidence interval, to determine the rate of improvement. Survival analysis and Kaplan-Meier methods were used to estimate the duration of palliative care effectiveness. RESULTS: We recruited 39 cases into the study. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most prevalent (92.3%). The middle third of the esophagus was involved predominantly (51.3%). Dilation was the most preferred method (89.7%) and stenting was done in 4 cases. Decreasing dysphagia score was not related to palliation method or pathology type of carcinoma. Age of the patients was significantly related to the improvement of dysphagia score. Mean survival time was 137.6 d and median was 103 d. CONCLUSION: Results of this study showed a low survival rate after palliative care in esophageal cancer cases despite dysphagia scores' improvement after dilating or stenting. PMID:18595139
Management of delirium in palliative care: a review.
Grassi, Luigi; Caraceni, Augusto; Mitchell, Alex J; Nanni, Maria Giulia; Berardi, Maria Alejandra; Caruso, Rosangela; Riba, Michelle
Delirium is a complex but common disorder in palliative care with a prevalence between 13 and 88 % but a particular frequency at the end of life (terminal delirium). By reviewing the most relevant studies (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycLit, PsycInfo, Cochrane Library), a correct assessment to make the diagnosis (e.g., DSM-5, delirium assessment tools), the identification of the possible etiological factors, and the application of multicomponent and integrated interventions were reported as the correct steps to effectively manage delirium in palliative care. In terms of medications, both conventional (e.g., haloperidol) and atypical antipsychotics (e.g., olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, aripiprazole) were shown to be equally effective in the treatment of delirium. No recommendation was possible in palliative care regarding the use of other drugs (e.g., α-2 receptors agonists, psychostimulants, cholinesterase inhibitors, melatonergic drugs). Non-pharmacological interventions (e.g., behavioral and educational) were also shown to be important in the management of delirium. More research is necessary to clarify how to more thoroughly manage delirium in palliative care. PMID:25663153
Issues in Rural Palliative Care: Views from the Countryside
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Robinson, Carole A.; Pesut, Barbara; Bottorff, Joan L.
Context: Growing concern exists among health professionals over the dilemma of providing necessary health care for Canada's aging population. Hospice palliative services are an essential need in both urban and rural settings. Rural communities, in particular, are vulnerable to receiving inadequate services due to their geographic isolation.…
The Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes towards the Palliative Care
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Ayed, Ahmad; Sayej, Sumaya; Harazneh, Lubna; Fashafsheh, Imad; Eqtait, Faeda
Background: Palliative care (PC) is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification, impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems like physical, psychosocial and…
Palliative Care for Extremely Premature Infants and Their Families
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Boss, Renee D.
Extremely premature infants face multiple acute and chronic life-threatening conditions. In addition, the treatments to ameliorate or cure these conditions often entail pain and discomfort. Integrating palliative care from the moment that extremely premature labor is diagnosed offers families and clinicians support through the process of defining…
Reality of evidence-based practice in palliative care.
Visser, Claire; Hadley, Gina; Wee, Bee
There has been a paradigm shift in medicine away from tradition, anecdote and theoretical reasoning from the basic sciences towards evidence-based medicine (EBM). In palliative care however, statistically significant benefits may be marginal and may not be related to clinical meaningfulness. The typical treatment vs. placebo comparison necessitated by 'gold standard' randomised controlled trials (RCTs) is not necessarily applicable. The complex multimorbidity of end of life care involves considerations of the patient's physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs. In addition, the field of palliative care covers a heterogeneous group of chronic and incurable diseases no longer limited to cancer. Adequate sample sizes can be difficult to achieve, reducing the power of studies and high attrition rates can result in inadequate follow up periods. This review uses examples of the management of cancer-related fatigue and death rattle (noisy breathing) to demonstrate the current state of EBM in palliative care. The future of EBM in palliative care needs to be as diverse as the patients who ultimately derive benefit. Non-RCT methodologies of equivalent quality, validity and size conducted by collaborative research networks using a 'mixed methods approach' are likely to pose the correct clinical questions and derive evidence-based yet clinically relevant outcomes. PMID:26487964
[The role of the mobile palliative care team nurse].
Chrétien, Sophie
The mobile palliative care and support team nurse works in different departments within the hospital. The clinical situation of a patient enables the team to identify in what ways she is declining and thereby participate in the care management in order to favour the patient's return home. PMID:26567068
[Global management of melanoma in the palliative phase].
Bollecker, Carole
The priority of the care management of people with melanoma in the palliative stage is to treat symptoms causing discomfort and to provide psychological support. The commitment of caregivers is important, both on the professional as well as human level. A team in Lyon shares its practices. PMID:26944643
[Ethical questions with patients in the palliative phase].
Roger, Violaine
Ethics question our values and the principles which govern our decisions. In the specific context of the home, where the family is alone most of the time with the sick family member, and where the team of health professionals is more fragmented, day-to-day care, notably in the palliative phase, requires almost constant ethical questioning. PMID:27063882
Intercultural palliative care: do we need cultural competence?
Gunaratnam, Yasmin
Recognition of the importance of 'cultural competence' is now central to health care policy and to nurse education and training across the international spectrum. Detailed engagement with models of cultural competence is comparatively recent in palliative care nursing. This article presents the findings from a development project on elders and carers from 'minority ethnic' groups, funded by the Department of Health, to increase awareness of palliative care and to improve understanding of the needs of these groups of service users. The article describes the experiences of nurses involved in the delivery of palliative care who were interviewed in focus groups as a part of the project. It draws attention to the complicated relationships between cultural knowledge and practice and to the non-rational and visceral dimensions of intercultural care. These aspects of nursing are marginalised in current approaches to cultural competence, which emphasise the rational acquisition and application of cultural knowledge and skills by practitioners. It is suggested that recognition of these marginalised experiences can contribute to the development of new approaches to intercultural nursing that are also more attuned to the ethos and values of palliative care. PMID:18073705
[Palliative care in non-cancer, chronic, progressive diseases].
Radványi, Ildikó; Nagy, Lajos; Balogh, Sándor; Csikós, Ágnes
Malignant and other chronic diseases cause the death of 2.5 million people in Europe annually. It is anticipated that this number will grow due to the aging of the European population. The death of a significant proportion of patients having progressive chronic disease is preceded by an extended end of life stadium. In this stage the patients have severe symptoms and pain that necessitate their symptomatic treatment and palliative care. The assessment of the life expectancy of patients, estimation of the prognosis of their illness and, therefore, selection of patients with a need of intensified palliative care often pose difficulties. This paper provides a summary on the basic elements of "good palliative care". It introduces the most frequent models for the procession of chronic diseases and those indicators that help practicing doctors to recognise easier patients with a need of intensified palliative care, and as a result provides more adequate medical attendance that is better suited to the specific needs of the patients. PMID:26551310
Palliative care team visits. Qualitative study through participant observation
Bueno Pernias, Maria José; Hueso Montoro, César; Guardia Mancilla, Plácido; Montoya Juárez, Rafael; García Caro, Maria Paz
Objectives: To describe the clinical encounters that occur when a palliative care team provides patient care and the features that influence these encounters and indicate whether they are favorable or unfavorable depending on the expectations and feelings of the various participants. Methods: A qualitative case study conducted via participant observation. A total of 12 observations of the meetings of palliative care teams with patients and families in different settings (home, hospital and consultation room) were performed. The visits were follow-up or first visits, either scheduled or on demand. Content analysis of the observation was performed. Results: The analysis showed the normal follow-up activity of the palliative care unit that was focused on controlling symptoms, sharing information and providing advice on therapeutic regimens and care. The environment appeared to condition the patients' expressions and the type of patient relationship. Favorable clinical encounter conditions included kindness and gratitude. Unfavorable conditions were deterioration caused by approaching death, unrealistic family objectives and limited resources. Conclusion: Home visits from basic palliative care teams play an important role in patient and family well-being. The visits seem to focus on controlling symptoms and are conditioned by available resources. PMID:27226663
[Palliative care: accompanying persons at the end of life].
Espinar Cid, Victoria
The philosophy, the essence and the therapeutic goals of palliative care help the health professionals offer the patients a high quality assistance on their last stage of life. With both, a human and scientific view, it's possible to deal with the relief of suffer on all dimensions. PMID:22548665
Attachment Theory and Spirituality: Two Threads Converging in Palliative Care?
Müller, Jakob; Frick, Eckhard; Petersen, Yvonne; Mauer, Christine
The aim of this paper is to discuss and explore the interrelation between two concepts, attachment theory and the concept of spirituality, which are important to palliative care and to founding a multivariate understanding of the patient's needs and challenges. Both concepts have been treated by research in diverse and multiform ways, but little effort has yet been made to integrate them into one theoretical framework in reference to the palliative context. In this paper, we begin an attempt to close this scientific gap theoretically. Following the lines of thought in this paper, we assume that spirituality can be conceptualized as an adequate response of a person's attachment pattern to the peculiarity of the palliative situation. Spirituality can be seen both as a recourse to securely based relationships and as an attempt to explore the ultimate unknown, the mystery of one's own death. Thus, spirituality in the palliative context corresponds to the task of attachment behavior: to transcend symbiosis while continuing bonds and thus to explore the unknown environment independently and without fear. Spiritual activity is interpreted as a human attachment behavior option that receives special quality and importance in the terminal stage of life. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed in the final section of the paper. PMID:24319482
An unusual cause of vomiting in a palliative care setting.
Railsback, Linda
Control of symptoms, including nausea and vomiting, is central to palliative care. Self-induced vomiting in a middle-aged male patient with a life-limiting abdominal malignancy provided a challenge in diagnosis and management. This case report discusses diagnostic and therapeutic considerations. PMID:21838953
Acceptance of dying: a discourse analysis of palliative care literature.
Zimmermann, Camilla
The subject of death denial in the West has been examined extensively in the sociological literature. However, there has not been a similar examination of its "opposite", the acceptance of death. In this study, I use the qualitative method of discourse analysis to examine the use of the term "acceptance" of dying in the palliative care literature from 1970 to 2001. A Medline search was performed by combining the text words "accept or acceptance" with the subject headings "terminal care or palliative care or hospice care", and restricting the search to English language articles in clinical journals discussing acceptance of death in adults. The 40 articles were coded and analysed using a critical discourse analysis method. This paper focuses on the theme of acceptance as integral to palliative care, which had subthemes of acceptance as a goal of care, personal acceptance of healthcare workers, and acceptance as a facilitator of care. For patients and families, death acceptance is a goal that they can be helped to attain; for palliative care staff, acceptance of dying is a personal quality that is a precondition for effective practice. Acceptance not only facilitates the dying process for the patient and family, but also renders care easier. The analysis investigates the intertextuality of these themes with each other and with previous texts. From a Foucauldian perspective, I suggest that the discourse on acceptance of dying represents a productive power, which disciplines patients through apparent psychological and spiritual gratification, and encourages participation in a certain way to die. PMID:22513246
[Palliative care: an approach based on the professional health categories].
Hermes, Hélida Ribeiro; Lamarca, Isabel Cristina Arruda
Palliative care has emerged as a humanitarian philosophy of caring for terminally ill patients, alleviating their pain and suffering. This care involves the action of an interdisciplinary team, in which all the professional recognize the limits of their performance will help the terminally ill patient to die with dignity. This article deals with the issue of death and dying, both from the traditional and the contemporary standpoint, and how palliative care have been treated in the job categories of medicine, social work, psychology and nursing. The methodology of this study consists of a literature review of articles in the SciELO database, electronic journals and technical books related to the topic. Analysis of the articles revealed a shortage of subjects that deal with the theme of death in professional curricula, as well as few palliative care services in Brazilian society and barriers faced by this new approach to the terminal patient. This research aims to broaden the discussion of palliative care in public health, and provide information for future studies that will address the theme. PMID:23989564
When Hospice Fails: The Limits of Palliative Care.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Logue, Barbara J.
Examines feasibility of palliative approach for all patients, showing reasonable people may refuse even the most exemplary care for themselves or an incompetent relative. Medical realities and alleviation of pointless suffering necessitate that policymakers consider other options, including "active" euthanasia, consistent with patient autonomy and…
Cultural and religious considerations in pediatric palliative care
Objective A growing multicultural society presents healthcare providers with a difficult task of providing appropriate care for individuals who have different life experiences, beliefs, value systems, religions, languages, and notions of healthcare. This is especially vital when end-of-life care is needed during childhood. There is a dearth of literature addressing cultural considerations in the pediatric palliative care field. As members of a specific culture often do not ascribe to the same religious traditions, the purpose of this article was to explore and review how culture and religion informs and shapes pediatric palliative care. Method Comprehensive literature searches were completed through an online search of nine databases for articles published between 1980 and 2011: PsychINFO, MEDLINE®, Journal of Citation Reports-Science Edition, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL®, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), EBSCO, and Ovid. Key terms included: culture, transcultural, spiritual, international, ethnic, customs or religion AND end-of-life, palliative care, death, dying, cancer, or hospice, and children, pediatrics, or pediatric oncology. Reference lists in the retrieved articles were examined for additional studies that fit the inclusion criteria, and relevant articles were included for review. In addition, web-based searches of specific journals were conducted. These included, but were not limited to: Qualitative Health Research, Psycho-Oncology, Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Journal of Pediatric Health Care, Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, Omega, Social Work in Health Care, and Journal of Palliative Medicine. Results Thirty-seven articles met eligibility criteria. From these, seven distinct themes emerged that have implications for pediatric palliative care. These include the role of culture in decision-making, faith and the involvement of clergy, communication (spoken and unspoken language), communicating to children
Palliative care in end-stage kidney disease.
Fassett, Robert G; Robertson, Iain K; Mace, Rose; Youl, Loren; Challenor, Sarah; Bull, Rosalind
Patients with end-stage kidney disease have significantly increased morbidity and mortality. While greater attention has been focused on advanced care planning, end-of-life decisions, conservative therapy and withdrawal from dialysis these must be supported by adequate palliative care incorporating symptom control. With the increase in the elderly, with their inherent comorbidities, accepted onto dialysis, patients, their nephrologists, families and multidisciplinary teams, are often faced with end-of-life decisions and the provision of palliative care. While dialysis may offer a better quality and quantity of life compared with conservative management, this may not always be the case; hence the patient is entitled to be well-informed of all options and potential outcomes before embarking on such therapy. They should be assured of adequate symptom control and palliative care whichever option is selected. No randomized controlled trials have been conducted in this area and only a small number of observational studies provide guidance; thus predicting which patients will have poor outcomes is problematic. Those undertaking dialysis may benefit from being fully aware of their choices between active and conservative treatment should their functional status seriously deteriorate and this should be shared with caregivers. This clarifies treatment pathways and reduces the ambiguity surrounding decision making. If conservative therapy or withdrawal from dialysis is chosen, each should be supported by palliative care. The objective of this review is to summarize published studies and evidence-based guidelines, core curricula, position statements, standards and tools in palliative care in end-stage kidney disease. PMID:21175971
Creating Regional Futures: A Scenario-Based Inter- and Transdisciplinary Case Study as a Model for Applied Student-Centred Learning in Geography
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Fromhold-Eisebith, Martina; Freyer, Bernhard; Mose, Ingo; Muhar, Andreas; Vilsmaier, Ulli
Human geography students face changing qualification requirements due to a shift towards new topics, educational tasks and professional options regarding issues of spatial development. This "practical turn" raises the importance of inter- and transdisciplinary work, management and capability building skills, with case study projects and…
Collaboration of Teacher Education and Child Disability Health Care: Transdisciplinary Approach to Inclusive Practice for Early Childhood Pre-Service Teachers
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Silverman, Katie; Hong, Seong; Trepanier-Street, Mary
The purpose of this paper is to describe the collaborative efforts between an Early Childhood Teacher Education Program and a Child Disability Health Care Program to incorporate a transdisciplinary model in the preparation of early childhood teachers in inclusive practice. Recent studies suggest essential components of teacher preparation in early…
Framing a Transdisciplinary Research Agenda in Health Education to Address Health Disparities and Social Inequities: A Road Map for SOPHE Action
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gambescia, Stephen F.; Woodhouse, Lynn D.; Auld, M. Elaine; Green, B. Lee; Quinn, Sandra Crouse; Airhihenbuwa, Collins O.
SOPHE leaders continue to challenge us to be true to the call for an "open society." SOPHE has supported the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating health disparities through its Strategic Plan. SOPHE held an Inaugural Health Education Research Disparities Summit, Health Disparities and Social Inequities: Framing a Transdisciplinary Research…
Benevolent Paradox: Integrating Community-Based Empowerment and Transdisciplinary Research Approaches into Traditional Frameworks to Increase Funding and Long-Term Sustainability of Chicano-Community Research Programs
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
de la Torre, Adela
Niños Sanos, Familia Sana (NSFS) is a 5-year multi-intervention study aimed at preventing childhood obesity among Mexican-origin children in rural California. Using a transdisciplinary approach and community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodology, NSFS's development included a diversely trained team working in collaboration with…
Transforming children's palliative care—from ideas to action: highlights from the first ICPCN conference on children's palliative care
Downing, J; Marston, J; Muckaden, MA; Boucher, S; Cardoz, M; Nkosi, B; Steel, B; Talawadekar, P; Tilve, P
The International Children's Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) held its first international conference on children's palliative care, in conjunction with Tata Memorial Centre, in Mumbai, India, from 10–12 February 2014. The theme of the conference, Transforming children's palliative care—from ideas to action, reflected the vision of the ICPCN to live in a world where every child who needs it, can access palliative care, regardless of where they live. Key to this is action, to develop service provision and advocate for children's palliative care. Three pre-conference workshops were held on 9 February, aimed at doctors, nurses, social workers, and volunteers, and focused around the principles of children's palliative care, and in particular pain and symptom management. The conference brought together 235 participants representing 38 countries. Key themes identified throughout the conference included: the need for advocacy and leadership; for education and research, with great strides having been taken in the development of an evidence base for children's palliative care, along with the provision of education; the importance of communication and attention to spirituality in children, and issues around clinical care, in particular for neonates. Delegates were continually challenged to transform children's palliative care in their parts of the world and the conference culminated in the signing of the ICPCN Mumbai Declaration. The Declaration calls upon governments around the world to improve access to quality children's palliative care services and made a call on the Belgian government not to pass a bill allowing children to be euthanised in that country. The conference highlighted many of the ongoing developments in children's palliative care around the world, and as she closed the conference, Joan Marston (ICPCN CEO) challenged participants to take positive action and be the champions that the children need, thus transforming children�
On Excellence--Illustrated through Four Exemplars
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lewis, Theodore
In this article, the author presents an excerpt from his speech delivered at the Foundation for Technology Education (FTE) Spirit of Excellence Breakfast in Louisville, Kentucky, in Marcy 2009. The author focuses on people whose work reflect excellence and social responsibility. He uses this frame of excellence and social responsibility to reflect…
Teaching Excellence Initiatives: Modalities and Operational Factors
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Land, Ray; Gordon, George
Teaching excellence is at the centre of national and international higher education policy. The Higher Education Academy (HEA) is a part of the debate to develop a shared understanding of what constitutes teaching excellence and has published research including "Considering Teaching Excellence in Higher Education: 2007-2013" by Dr Vicky…
Discussing the Evidence for Upstream Palliative Care in Improving Outcomes in Advanced Cancer.
LeBlanc, Thomas W; Nickolich, Myles S; El-Jawahri, Areej; Temel, Jennifer S
Palliative care has received increasing attention at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting since the publication of its provisional clinical opinion on the topic in 2012. Despite frequent discussion, palliative care remains a source of some controversy and confusion in clinical practice, especially concerning who should provide it, what it encompasses, and when and how it can help patients and their families. In this article, we provide a formal definition of palliative care and review the state of the science of palliative care in oncology. Several randomized controlled trials now show that palliative care improves important outcomes for patients with cancer. Related outcome improvements include a reduction in symptoms, improved quality of life, better prognostic understanding, less depressed mood, less aggressive end-of-life care, reduced resource utilization, and even prolonged survival. As such, ASCO recommends early integration of palliative care into comprehensive cancer care for all patients with advanced disease and/or significant symptom burden. Our aim is that this summary will facilitate greater understanding about palliative care and encourage further integration of palliative care services into cancer care. More research is needed to illuminate the mechanisms of action of palliative care and to improve the specificity of palliative care applications to unique scenarios and populations in oncology. PMID:27249764
An Excel macro for generating trilinear plots.
Shikaze, Steven G; Crowe, Allan S
This computer note describes a method for creating trilinear plots in Microsoft Excel. Macros have been created in MS Excel's internal language: Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). A simple form has been set up to allow the user to input data from an Excel worksheet. The VBA macro is used to convert the triangular data (which consist of three columns of percentage data) into X-Y data. The macro then generates the axes, labels, and grid for the trilinear plot. The X-Y data are plotted as scatter data in Excel. By providing this macro in Excel, users can create trilinear plots in a quick, inexpensive manner. PMID:17257347
Perceptions of palliative care among hematologic malignancy specialists: a mixed-methods study
LeBlanc, Thomas W.; O'Donnell, Jonathan D.; Crowley-Matoka, Megan; Rabow, Michael W.; Smith, Cardinale B.; White, Douglas B.; Tiver, Greer A.; Arnold, Robert M.; Schenker, Yael
Background Patients with hematologic malignancies are less likely to receive specialist palliative care services than patients with solid tumors. Reasons for this difference are poorly understood. Methods This was a multisite, mixed-methods study to understand and contrast perceptions of palliative care among hematologic and solid tumor oncologists, using surveys assessing referral practices, and in-depth semi-structured interviews exploring views of palliative care. We compared referral patterns using standard statistical methods. We analyzed qualitative interview data using constant comparative methods, to explore reasons for observed differences. Results Among 66 interviewees, 23 oncologists cared exclusively for patients with hematologic malignancies; 43 treated only patients with solid tumors. Seven of 23 hematologic oncologists (30%) reported never referring to palliative care; all solid tumor oncologists had previously referred. In qualitative analyses, most hematologic oncologists viewed palliative care as end-of-life care, while most solid tumor oncologists viewed palliative care as a subspecialty that could assist with complex cases. Solid tumor oncologists emphasized practical barriers to palliative care referral, such as appointment availability and reimbursement issues. Hematologic oncologists emphasized philosophical concerns about palliative care referrals, including different treatment goals, responsiveness to chemotherapy, and a preference to control even palliative aspects of patient care. Conclusions Most hematologic oncologists view palliative care as end-of-life care, while solid tumor oncologists more often view palliative care as a subspecialty for co-managing complex patients. Efforts to integrate palliative care into hematologic malignancy practices will require solutions that address unique barriers to palliative care referral experienced by hematologic malignancy specialists. PMID:25784580
risk factor Inn (INNrisk) - transdisciplinary analysis of the 2005 flood in the province of Tyrol, Austria
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kleewein, Klaus; Pfurtscheller, Clemens; Borsdorf, Axel
The transdisciplinary project INNrisk, in collaboration with public risk and disaster management, investigates the severe floods of 22nd and 23rd of August, 2005, and their effects within the federal province of Tyrol. The inundation and accompanying processes (e.g. debris flows, log jams, underwashing of infrastructure) caused by the river Inn and its tributaries created a dangerous situation for Tyrol. The overall economic loss of direct assets is said to amount to ca. 500 million Euros. Climate change has basically been causing a statistical increase of damaging floods within the Alpine Space in recent decades while increasing vulnerability at the same time. The expansion of settlements is one factor in the threat to large numbers of people and growing economic losses. However, the disasters of the last decade provide an opportunity for analysing the flood process in terms of natural-science and geographical aspects as well as in terms of economic and statistical ones. This should lead to a better understanding of triggers and effects in those areas where humans are active and form the basis for mitigation and adaptation strategies. The results of such analyses represent valuable information for public risk and disaster management, particularly in presenting the effects on public and private households. The INNrisk project primarily aims to assess the framework conditions in systemic-legal terms and to analyse human actions during the floods in relation to various plans and the damage potentials resulting from them. The assessed losses depend to a great extent on the actions taken during the emergency and on flood operations by the public emergency management and local fire departments, which are in charge of floods and related processes in the case of Austria. Assessment will be carried out by analysing a database of series of human actions for the duration of the emergeny and increased risk. The project also strives to arrive at a macro- and mesoeconomic
The Saskatchewan River Basin - a large scale observatory for transdisciplinary science
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wheater, H. S.
Rocky Mountains, Boreal Forest, and the Prairies, and a river and lake biogeochemical research facility, focussed on impacts of nutrients and exotic chemicals. Data are integrated at SRB scale to support the development of improved large scale climate and hydrological modelling products, the development of DSS systems for local, provincial and basin-scale management, and the development of related social science research, engaging stakeholders in the research and exploring their values and priorities for water security. We aim to contribute as a Regional Hydroclimate Project to the World Climate Research Programme, and more generally to develop a new paradigm for inter-disciplinary research at large basin scale, recognising that water management must address what is a complex human-environmental system. The observatory will provide the multiple scales of observation and modelling required to develop: a) the new climate, hydrological and ecological science and modelling tools to address environmental change in key environments, and their integrated effects and feedbacks at large catchment scale, b) the new tools needed to support river basin management under uncertainty, including anthropogenic controls on land and water management and c) the place-based focus for the development of new transdisciplinary science.
Cybersemiotics: A suggestion for a transdisciplinary framework for description of observing, anticipatory and meaning producing systems
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Brier, Soren
language in the true sense I have extended his concept into ethology and bio-semiotics by talking of sign games related to specific motivations and innate response mechanisms. Life as such seems to be an anticipatory function generating expectations through evolution through open genetic programs as Konrad Lorenz pointed out. The phenomenon of imprinting in ducks for instance is a standard example of programmed anticipation. Expectations are expectations of meaning and order (information) related to the semiosphere the organism constructs as its individual world view and live in. (The Umwelt of von Uexküll). On this basis events that perpetuates the semiosphere are reduced to meaning, i.e. something related to the survival and procreation of the individual living system, it conatus, to use one of Spinoza's terms. The framework of cybersemiotics, uniting second order cybernetics, semiotics and language game theory, is created to make transdisciplinary concepts and models that can handle the process of cognition, information and communication across the domains of the sciences, the arts and social sciences in a non-reductionistic way. It is seen as an alternative based on biological and semiotic thinking (biosemiotics) to the functionalistic information processing paradigm of cognitive science that is build on the computer as paradigm and based on classical logic and mechanistic physics—and therefore has severe problems of dealing with semantics and signification.
Palliative care provision for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Yohannes, Abebaw Mengistu
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of disability, morbidity and mortality in old age. Patients with advanced stage COPD are most likely to be admitted three to four times per year with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) which are costly to manage. The adverse events of AECOPD are associated with poor quality of life, severe physical disability, loneliness, and depression and anxiety symptoms. Currently there is a lack of palliative care provision for patients with advanced stage COPD compared with cancer patients despite having poor prognosis, intolerable dyspnoea, lower levels of self efficacy, greater disability, poor quality of life and higher levels of anxiety and depression. These symptoms affect patients' quality of life and can be a source of concern for family and carers as most patients are likely to be housebound and may be in need of continuous support and care. Evidence of palliative care provision for cancer patients indicate that it improves quality of life and reduces health care costs. The reasons why COPD patients do not receive palliative care are complex. This partly may relate to prognostic accuracy of patients' survival which poses a challenge for healthcare professionals, including general practitioners for patients with advanced stage COPD, as they are less likely to engage in end-of-life care planning in contrast with terminal disease like cancer. Furthermore there is a lack of resources which constraints for the wider availability of the palliative care programmes in the health care system. Potential barriers may include unwillingness of patients to discuss advance care planning and end-of-life care with their general practitioners, lack of time, increased workload, and fear of uncertainty of the information to provide about the prognosis of the disease and also lack of appropriate tools to guide general practitioners when to refer patients for palliative care. COPD is a chronic incurable disease; those in an
Palliative care provision for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Yohannes, Abebaw Mengistu
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of disability, morbidity and mortality in old age. Patients with advanced stage COPD are most likely to be admitted three to four times per year with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) which are costly to manage. The adverse events of AECOPD are associated with poor quality of life, severe physical disability, loneliness, and depression and anxiety symptoms. Currently there is a lack of palliative care provision for patients with advanced stage COPD compared with cancer patients despite having poor prognosis, intolerable dyspnoea, lower levels of self efficacy, greater disability, poor quality of life and higher levels of anxiety and depression. These symptoms affect patients' quality of life and can be a source of concern for family and carers as most patients are likely to be housebound and may be in need of continuous support and care. Evidence of palliative care provision for cancer patients indicate that it improves quality of life and reduces health care costs. The reasons why COPD patients do not receive palliative care are complex. This partly may relate to prognostic accuracy of patients' survival which poses a challenge for healthcare professionals, including general practitioners for patients with advanced stage COPD, as they are less likely to engage in end-of-life care planning in contrast with terminal disease like cancer. Furthermore there is a lack of resources which constraints for the wider availability of the palliative care programmes in the health care system. Potential barriers may include unwillingness of patients to discuss advance care planning and end-of-life care with their general practitioners, lack of time, increased workload, and fear of uncertainty of the information to provide about the prognosis of the disease and also lack of appropriate tools to guide general practitioners when to refer patients for palliative care. COPD is a chronic incurable disease; those in an
AgMIP's Transdisciplinary Agricultural Systems Approach to Regional Integrated Assessment of Climate Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Antle, John M.; Valdivia, Roberto O.; Boote, Kenneth J.; Janssen, Sander; Jones, James W.; Porter, Cheryl H.; Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Ruane, Alexander C.; Thorburn, Peter J.
This chapter describes methods developed by the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) to implement a transdisciplinary, systems-based approach for regional-scale (local to national) integrated assessment of agricultural systems under future climate, biophysical, and socio-economic conditions. These methods were used by the AgMIP regional research teams in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to implement the analyses reported in their respective chapters of this book. Additional technical details are provided in Appendix 1.The principal goal that motivates AgMIP's regional integrated assessment (RIA) methodology is to provide scientifically rigorous information needed to support improved decision-making by various stakeholders, ranging from local to national and international non-governmental and governmental organizations.
Transdisciplinary Cardiovascular and Cancer Health Disparities Training: Experiences of the Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities
Ferketich, Amy; Boyington, Josephine; Dugan, Sheila; Garroutte, Eva; Kaufmann, Peter G.; Krok, Jessica; Kuo, Alice; Ortega, Alexander N.; Purnell, Tanjala; Srinivasan, Shobha
The Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities program promotes multilevel and multifactorial health equity research and the building of research teams that are transdisciplinary. We summarized 5 areas of scientific training for empowering the next generation of health disparities investigators with research methods and skills that are needed to solve disparities and inequalities in cancer and cardiovascular disease. These areas include social epidemiology, multilevel modeling, health care systems or health care delivery, community-based participatory research, and implementation science. We reviewed the acquisition of the skill sets described in the training components; these skill sets will position trainees to become leaders capable of effecting significant change because they provide tools that can be used to address the complexities of issues that promote health disparities. PMID:25905828
A Historical Perspective on Local Environmental Movements in Japan: Lessons for the Transdisciplinary Approach on Water Resource Governance
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Oh, T.
Typical studies on natural resources from a social science perspective tend to choose one type of resource—water, for example— and ask what factors contribute to the sustainable use or wasteful exploitation of that resource. However, climate change and economic development, which are causing increased pressure on local resources and presenting communities with increased levels of tradeoffs and potential conflicts, force us to consider the trade-offs between options for using a particular resource. Therefore, the transdisciplinary approach that accurately captures the advantages and disadvantages of various possible resource uses is particularly important in the complex social-ecological systems, where concerns about inequality with respect to resource use and access have become unavoidable. Needless to say, resource management and policy require sound scientific understanding of the complex interconnections between nature and society, however, in contrast to typical international discussions, I discuss Japan not as an "advanced" case where various dilemmas have been successfully addressed by the government through the optimal use of technology, but rather as a nation seeing an emerging trend that is based on a awareness of the connections between local resources and the environment. Furthermore, from a historical viewpoint, the nexus of local resources is not a brand-new idea in the experience of environmental governance in Japan. There exist the local environment movements, which emphasized the interconnection of local resources and succeeded in urging the governmental action and policymaking. For this reason, local movements and local knowledge for the resource governance warrant attention. This study focuses on the historical cases relevant to water resource management including groundwater, and considers the contexts and conditions to holistically address local resource problems, paying particular attention to interactions between science and society. I
LCLUC as an entry point for transdisciplinary research--reflections from an agriculture land use change study in South Asia.
Nagabhatla, Nidhi; Padmanabhan, Martina; Kühle, Peter; Vishnudas, Suma; Betz, Lydia; Niemeyer, Bastian
This article highlights applied understanding of classifying earth imaging data for land cover land use change (LCLUC) information. Compared to the many previous studies of LCLUC, the present study is innovative in that it applied geospatial data, tools and techniques for transdisciplinary research. It contributes to a wider discourse on practical decision making for multi-level governance. Undertaken as part of the BioDIVA project, the research adopted a multi-tiered methodical approach across three key dimensions: socioecology as the sphere of interest, a transdisciplinary approach as the disciplinary framework, and geospatial analysis as the applied methodology. The area of interest was the agroecosystem of Wayanad district in Kerala, India (South Asia). The methodology was structured to enable analysis of multi-scalar and multi-temporal data, using Wayanad as a case study. Three levels of analysis included: District (Landsat TM-30m), Taluk or sub-district (ASTER-15m) and Village or Gram Panchayat (GeoEye-0.5m). Our hypothesis, that analyzing patterns of land use change is pertinent for up-to-date assessment of agroecosystem resources and their wise management is supported by the outcome of the multi-tiered geospatial analysis. In addition, two examples from the project that highlight the adoption of LCLUC by different disciplinary experts are presented. A sociologist assessed the land ownership boundary for a selected tribal community. A faunal ecologist used it to assess the effect of landscape structure on arthropods and plant groups in rice fields. Furthermore, the Google Earth interface was used to support the overall validation process. Our key conclusion was that a multi-level understanding of the causes, effects, processes and mechanisms that govern agroecosystem transformation requires close attention to spatial, temporal and seasonal dynamics, for which the incorporation of local knowledge and participation of local communities is crucial. PMID
Designing research with hospice and palliative care populations.
Wohleber, Ashley M; McKitrick, Daniel S; Davis, Shawn E
Research in palliative care and hospice populations is important for improving quality of care, quality of life, and provider understanding of individuals at the end of life. However, this research involves many potential challenges. This review seeks to inform and assist researchers targeting to design studies targeting hospice and palliative care patients by presenting a thorough review of the published literature. This review covers English-language articles published from 1990 through 2009 listed in the PsycInfo, Medline, or CINAHL research databases under relevant keywords. Articles on pediatric hospice were not included. Issues discussed include study design, informed consent, and recruitment for participants. Synthesized recommendations for researchers in these populations are presented. PMID:22104045
Operationalizing reflexivity to improve the rigor of palliative care research.
Johnston, Bridget; Pringle, Jan; Buchanan, Deans
Reflective practice involves deliberate consideration of actions, attitudes and behaviors. Reflexivity in research is considered important for ensuring that research is ethically and rigorously conducted. This paper details the challenges of conducting research involving patients with palliative care needs within the acute hospital environment. It discusses the contribution of reflexivity to a pilot study using the Patient Dignity Question (PDQ) "What do I need to know about you as a person to take the best care of you that I can?" as a brief intervention to foster a more person-centered climate. Challenges that emerged are discussed from the perspectives of the researchers, the participants, and the setting; they relate to: timing and recruitment, the nature of palliative care illness, attitudes to research, and the research environment. Awareness of such issues can prompt researchers to devise appropriate strategies and approaches that may inform and assist the rigor and conduct of future research. PMID:26620579
Palliative care for advanced dementia in Japan: knowledge and attitudes.
Nakanishi, Miharu; Miyamoto, Yuki
This study examined factors contributing to the knowledge and attitudes of nursing home staff regarding palliative care for advanced dementia in Japan. A cross-sectional survey of 275 nurses and other care workers from 74 long-term care facilities was conducted across three prefectures in August 2014. The Japanese versions of the Questionnaire on Palliative Care for Advanced Dementia (qPAD) and Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying scale, Form B (FATCOD-B-J) were used. Greater knowledge was exhibited among nursing home staff in facilities that established a manual for end-of-life care. Higher levels of positive attitudes were observed among nursing home staff in facilities that had established a manual and those in facilities with a physician's written opinions on end-of-life care. An organisational effort should be explored to establish end-of-life care policies among nursing home staff for advanced dementia. PMID:26878406
Teaching Palliative Care Across Cultures: The Singapore Experience
Breaden, Katrina
Palliative care is a growing area of practice throughout the world and its promotion relies on adequately trained health care professionals. However, there are only a limited number of postgraduate academic courses or clinical training opportunities available, especially in resource challenged areas of the Asia Pacific region. This article outlines a creative endeavour between Flinders University, Adelaide Australia, the Singapore National Cancer Centre and the Asia Pacific Hospice and Palliative Care Network to provide an educational opportunity for students from the region. The strengths of the programme include its strong theoretical and evidenced-based framework, its multidisciplinary inclusiveness and its innovative and interactive teaching style. The main teaching challenge for the teaching team is to deliver culturally appropriate curricula to students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This postgraduate programme is an important initiative for the region and for the development of future leaders and pioneers in the discipline. PMID:21811364
The palliative care needs of ethnic minority patients: staff perspectives.
Diver, Fiona; Molassiotis, Alexander; Weeks, Les
The aim of this study was to assess palliative care staff's perceptions of multicultural care provision and explore the barriers and facilitators to culturally sensitive care. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with five palliative care staff were conducted. Staff showed awareness of inter-cultural diversity and the importance of individualized care. It also became apparent that staff did not possess ethnocentric attitudes. Facilitators of multicultural care that emerged from the data included training, learning from experience, the use of culturally specific literature and resources, and effective communication channels in the team. However, barriers were present, including limited interpreting services, and some staff and other patients' negative behaviours towards ethnic minority patients. The findings lead to recommendations for better resourcing and expansion of interpreting services, and for more training, based on staff's desire for limited culturally specific knowledge in sensitive combination with an individualized care philosophy. PMID:12968120
Twin pregnancy in a Fontan-palliated patient.
Nair, Anupama; Radhakrishnan, Sitaraman; Iyer, Krishna S
The Fontan connection, originally described in 1971, is used to provide palliation for patients with many forms of CHDs that cannot support a biventricular circulation. An increasing number of females who have undergone these connections in childhood are now surviving into adulthood and some are becoming pregnant. We report a case of a 29-year-old woman who presented with a twin pregnancy at 33 weeks of gestation. She had significant deterioration of her cardiovascular status before the twin babies were delivered by emergency caesarean section owing to associated obstetric complications. This report also highlights the various maternal and fetal complications occurring in pregnancy of Fontan-palliated patients and suggests the need for meticulous pre-conception counselling and strict perinatal care. PMID:27125813
Pediatric palliative care online: the views of health care professionals.
Ens, Carla D L; Chochinov, Harvey M; Bérard, Josette L M; Harlos, Mike S; Stenekes, Simone J; Wowchuk, Suzanne M
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the role of an online resource for dying children, their family members, and health care providers from the perspective of pediatric palliative care experts. Semistructured interviews with 12 leaders in pediatric palliative care in North America were conducted, exploring their perceptions and attitudes towards various aspects of Web-based resources for dying children and their care providers. Informants felt that an online resource may allow for a different form of expression, a connection between people undergoing a rare event, and an increase in education and support. Major challenges, such as accessibility, monitoring, and remaining current, would be ongoing. Other key themes included access, information, and anonymity. The data suggest that developing Web-based resources for dying young patients and their families may have merit. Should this take place, a feasibility study will be necessary to further determine the value of such a Web site for these vulnerable populations. PMID:18459596
Barriers to using palliative care: insight into African American culture.
Drisdom, Sheronda
As the hospice care setting becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, attending to the different conditions and needs of various groups is essential to providing optimal care. African Americans make up only a small percentage of hospice users in the United States. This article highlights barriers associated with the underenrollment of African Americans into hospice and palliative care programs. A thorough analysis of the literature was conducted to define hospice and palliative care and assess circumstances that impact the use of hospice services by African Americans. Many African Americans are not choosing hospice care because of cultural issues or knowledge deficits, whether through lack of communication or low literacy. Healthcare providers can begin by familiarizing themselves with hospice organizations and developing and putting into practice strategies to communicate with and educate patients and families about hospice care in a culturally sensitive manner. PMID:23899976
Methods for handling missing data in palliative care research.
Fielding, S; Fayers, P M; Loge, J H; Jordhøy, M S; Kaasa, S
Missing data is a common problem in palliative care research due to the special characteristics (deteriorating condition, fatigue and cachexia) of the population. Using data from a palliative study, we illustrate the problems that missing data can cause and show some approaches for dealing with it. Reasons for missing data and ways to deal with missing data (including complete case analysis, imputation and modelling procedures) are explored. Possible mechanisms behind the missing data are: missing completely at random, missing at random or missing not at random. In the example study, data are shown to be missing at random. Imputation of missing data is commonly used (including last value carried forward, regression procedures and simple mean). Imputation affects subsequent summary statistics and analyses, and can have a substantial impact on estimated group means and standard deviations. The choice of imputation method should be carried out with caution and the effects reported. PMID:17148533
Intimate Partner Violence in an Outpatient Palliative Care Setting
Wygant, Carmella; Bruera, Eduardo; Hui, David
Although a few studies have evaluated intimate partner violence (IPV) in the oncology setting, to our knowledge no studies exist of IPV among palliative care patients. IPV may be exacerbated at the end of life because patients and their caregivers often experience significant stressors associated with physical, emotional, social, and financial burdens. We discuss IPV in the palliative care setting using the example of a patient with advanced cancer who experienced IPV. A better understanding and awareness of IPV at the end of life could help clinicians support and counsel patients and ameliorate the suffering caused by this "unspoken" trauma. We further discuss 1) the prevalence and indicators of IPV, 2) how to initiate conversations about IPV, 3) the resources available to clinicians, and 4) various management strategies. PMID:23948161
Creating capacity through partnership: a palliative care skills development programme.
Kelsall, Kay; Brennan, Ebony; Cole, Teresa
This paper presents the development and implementation of a recurrently funded, rolling, 6-month palliative care secondment programme for NHS community staff nurses based in a rural health economy in Southwest England. The programme is a key tool in a wider development plan for improving access to, and the quality of, palliative and end-of-life care for a dispersed rural population. This is part of a much bigger programme of integration to meet the shared challenges of service capacity, equity, and sustainability that are presented by the geographical and demographical profile of the locality. The 'bigger picture' is defined and set in the context of the national drive and evidence base for integration in order to explain the reasons behind the secondment programme. This is followed by outlining the iterative process of design and implementation--the 'what?' and 'how?'--and key learning points to date are shared. PMID:26252232
Palliation of malignant tracheal strictures using silicone T tubes.
Insall, R L; Morritt, G N
The use of silicone T tubes for intubation of malignant tracheobronchial strictures may provide some degree of palliation of this distressing condition. It was used in seven patients with malignant lesions and two with benign strictures (resulting from tracheal trauma and lung transplantation). Four patients (two with cancer) are still alive and well with the tube in position. All patients noted improvement in dyspnoea and stridor. The main problems were tube migration (one patient), tracheo-oesophageal fistula (one patient), and blockage of the tube by tumour (two patients) or encrusted secretions (three patients). Airway patency was restored when the tube was blocked by cleaning or by laser resection of the tumour. With careful supervision and education of the patient intubation can give useful palliation to patients with distressing upper airways obstruction. Images PMID:1709308
Palliative treatment of malignant ascites: profile of catumaxomab
Ammouri, Lila; Prommer, Eric E
Malignant ascites is the abnormal accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity associated with several intrapelvic and intra-abdominal malignancies. The development of ascites leads to significant symptoms and poor quality of life for the cancer patient. Available therapies for palliation include treatment of the underlying disease, but when there are no treatment options, the use of diuretics, implantation of drainage catheters, and surgical shunting techniques are considered. None of these symptom palliation options affect the course of disease. The development of trifunctional antibodies, which attach to specific overexpressed surface markers on tumor cells, and trigger an immune response leading to cytoreductive effects, represents a new approach to the management of malignant ascites. The purpose of this review is to highlight current therapies for malignant ascites and review data as to the effectiveness of a new trifunctional antibody, catumaxomab. PMID:20531969
[Palliative Care for Neurological Intractable Diseases and Home Medical Support].
Yokoyama, Kazumasa; Ogino, Mieko; Ishigaki, Yasunori; Hattori, Nobutaka
Many medical doctors regard the end stage and palliative care of neurological intractable diseases as the point at which aggressive treatment should be interrupted and death is imminent. However, the definition of health by the World Health Organization as the physical, psychological, and social goal to achieve a fully favorable health condition should be revisited. In the real clinical setting, the health condition, as the ability to adapt and self-manage in the face of social, physical, and emotional challenges with the aim to overcome stress (resilience), is dynamic and involves a healthy condition and satisfaction with one's own living. The most important step in palliative therapy that is shared by neurologists is the maintenance of the health status with the help of multi-disciplinary team with the view to improving the quality of life. PMID:26241362
Endoscopic palliation for inoperable malignant dysphagia: long term follow up.
Maunoury, V; Brunetaud, J M; Cochelard, D; Boniface, B; Cortot, A; Paris, J C
This prospective non-randomised trial of 128 selected patients with unresectable oesophageal or gastrooesophageal junction cancers aims to evaluate the initial relief of malignant obstruction by means of bipolar electrocoagulation for both circumferential and submucosal strictures of Nd:YAG laser for the other patients. A limited dilatation was performed initially if a small calibre endoscope was unable to pass through the stricture. Prompt and significant relief of dysphagia without complications was achieved in 83% of patients. Improved patients were retreated monthly during the follow up period. Radiotherapy was recommended when possible. Symptomatic relief of obstruction lasted 4.2 months on average and 76% of patients remained palliated until death. Monthly retreatment using the most appropriate endoscopic procedure for the tumour configuration and radiotherapy after endoscopic relief of obstruction seems to give the best palliation for patients with unresectable cancers of the oesophagus or gastrooesophageal junction. PMID:1283144
Trappings of technology: casting palliative care nursing as legal relations.
Larsen, Ann-Claire
Community palliative care nurses in Perth have joined the throng of healthcare workers relying on personal digital assistants (PDAs) to store, access and send client information in 'real time'. This paper is guided by Heidegger's approach to technologies and Habermas' insights into the role of law in administering social welfare programs to reveal how new ethical and legal understandings regarding patient information add to nursing's professional responsibilities. This qualitative research interprets data from interviews with twenty community palliative care nurses about clients' legal rights to informational privacy and confidentiality. It explores nurses' views of their nursing responsibilities regarding clients' legal rights, liability issues, bureaucratic monitoring and enforcement procedures. It concludes that nurses and clients are construed as legal subjects entrenched in legal relations that have magnified since these nurses began using PDAs in 2005/2006. PMID:23134278
Clinical aspects of palliative care in advanced Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders of the elderly population. Few therapeutic options are available for patients with PD requiring palliative care. Treatment of the early stages of PD is entirely different from later stages. During the later stages, the palliative care model is introduced to provide the patient with comfort and support. Early palliative care in PD requires minimization of dyskinesias and decreasing occurrence of motor and non-motor off times in an effort to maximize independent motor function. In the later stages, the focus of treatment shifts to treating the predominant non-motor symptoms and having a more supportive and palliative nature. The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the palliative care management issues and palliative care management options of end-stage PD patients. PMID:23098090
[When should palliative care for children with life-threatening illnesses begin?].
Bergsträsser, Eva
Paediatric Palliative Care in Switzerland is still in its infancy. In comparison to palliative care in adults, the knowledge about palliative care in children is limited. To facilitate the decision of when to start palliative care, an instrument for health professionals has been developed. The instrument, called Paediatric Palliative Screening Scale (PaPaS Scale), builds on five domains shedding light on the child's illness: 1) trajectory of disease and impact on daily activities; 2) treatment options and burden of treatment; 3) symptoms, controllability, and problem burden; 4) preferences of patient or parents; and 5) life expectancy. The aims of a reasonably starting palliative care are quality of life and the ability to actively create the rest of life. PMID:25758969
Healthcare professionals' perceptions toward interprofessional collaboration in palliative home care: a view from Belgium.
Pype, Peter; Symons, Linda; Wens, Johan; Van den Eynden, Bart; Stess, Ann; Cherry, Gemma; Deveugele, Myriam
There is a growing need for palliative care, with the majority of palliative patients preferring palliative home care from their general practitioner (GP). GPs join specialized palliative home care teams (PHCTs) to perform this task. GPs' views on this collaboration are not known. This study explores the perceptions and preferences of GPs toward interprofessional collaboration. By employing a grounded theory approach, five focus groups were conducted in Flanders, Belgium with a total of 29 participants (professionals from PHCTs; professionals from organizations who provide training and education in palliative care and GPs who are not connected to either of the aforementioned groups). Analysis revealed that GPs considered palliative home care as part of their job. Good relationships with patients and families were considered fundamental in the delivery of high quality care. Factors influencing effective interprofessional collaboration were team competences, team arrangements (responsibilities and task description) and communication. GPs' willingness to share responsibilities with equally competent team members requires further research. PMID:23181267
Family as the primary caregiver: palliative care in the Golan Heights.
Richman, Elon; Ringel, Amit; Kreniske, Jonah Susser; Safadi, Wajdi
Palliative care is recognised by the WHO as an essential component of care for the seriously ill. Geographically isolated and historically underserved communities, particularly from ethnic minority groups, face obstacles in obtaining adequate palliative care. This case involves the care of a 26-year-old Druze man suffering from a terminal cancer in his Golan Heights village. Local physicians were able to train the patient's father in a palliative care capacity. In the effort of capacity building, the physician and palliative care team also aided the aggrieved family in the process of coping. Robust support networks, both at state and community levels, facilitated the care provided. In showcasing the role of the national and local safety net in activating and building community resources to address a dearth of palliative care services in disadvantaged regions, this case models a potentially effective community-based approach to palliative care for patients from underserved populations. PMID:25858919
Split-Course, High-Dose Palliative Pelvic Radiotherapy for Locally Progressive Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer
Gogna, Nirdosh Kumar; Baxi, Siddhartha; Hickey, Brigid; Baumann, Kathryn; Burmeister, Elizabeth; Holt, Tanya
Purpose: Local progression, in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer, often causes significant morbidity. Pelvic radiotherapy (RT) provides effective palliation in this setting, with most published studies supporting the use of high-dose regimens. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of split-course hypofractionated RT used at our institution in treating this group of patients. Methods and Materials: A total of 34 men with locoregionally progressive hormone-refractory prostate cancer, treated with a split course of pelvic RT (45-60 Gy in 18-24 fractions) between 2000 and 2008 were analyzed. The primary endpoints were the response rate and actuarial locoregional progression-free survival. Secondary endpoints included overall survival, compliance, and acute and late toxicity. Results: The median age was 71 years (range, 53-88). Treatment resulted in an overall initial response rate of 91%, a median locoregional progression-free survival of 43 months, and median overall survival of 28 months. Compliance was excellent and no significant late toxicity was reported. Conclusions: The split course pelvic RT described has an acceptable toxicity profile, is effective, and compares well with other high-dose palliative regimens that have been previously reported.
Colorectal Stenting: An Effective Therapy for Preoperative and Palliative Treatment
Jost, Rahel S. Jost, Res; Schoch, Erich; Brunner, Brigit; Decurtins, Marco; Zollikofer, Christoph L.
Purpose. To demonstrate the effectiveness of preoperative and palliative colorectal stent placement in acute colonic obstruction. Methods. Sixty-seven consecutive patients (mean age 67.3 years, range 25-93 years) with clinical and radiological signs of colonic obstruction were treated: 45 (67%) preoperatively and 22 (33%) with a palliative intent. In 59 patients (88%) the obstruction was malignant, while in 8 (12%) it was benign. A total of 73 enteric Wallstents were implanted under combined fluoroscopic/endoscopic guidance. Results. Forty-five patients were treated preoperatively with a technical success rate of 84%, a clinical success rate of 83%, and a complication rate of 16%. Of the 38 patients who were successfully stented preoperatively, 36 (95%) underwent surgery 2-22 days (mean 7.2 days) after stent insertion. The improved general condition and adequate bowel cleansing allowed single-stage tumor resection and primary end-to-end anastomosis without complications in 31 cases (86% of all operations), while only 5 patients had colostomies. Stent placement was used as the final palliative treatment in 22 patients. The technical success rate was 95%, the clinical success rate 72%, and the complication rate relatively high at 67%, caused by reocclusion in most cases. After noninvasive secondary interventions (e.g., tube placement, second stenting, balloon dilatation) the secondary patency of stents was 71% and mean reported survival time after stent insertion was 92 days (range 10-285 days). Conclusion. Preoperative stent placement in acute colonic obstruction is minimally invasive and allows an elective one-stage surgery in most cases. Stent placement also proved a valuable alternative to avoid colostomy in palliation.
Palliative care and quality of life in neuro-oncology
Mummudi, Naveen
Health-related quality of life has become an important end point in modern day clinical practice in patients with primary or secondary brain tumors. Patients have unique symptoms and problems from diagnosis till death, which require interventions that are multidisciplinary in nature. Here, we review and summarize the various key issues in palliative care, quality of life and end of life in patients with brain tumors, with the focus on primary gliomas. PMID:25165570
[Palliative care network, from coordination towards the integration of players].
Prudent, Joëlle
The ageing of the population and increase in progressive chronic pathologies constitute a major challenge for society. In parallel, the array of care systems and the partitioning between the different players pose organisational and conceptual difficulties. In the face of this, a palliative care network can seize the opportunity to develop its missions to improve the care pathway for patients and make it easier for them to remain at home. PMID:26567069
Supportive and Palliative Care Research | Division of Cancer Prevention
Supportive and palliative care research includes studies to prevent or treat the acute and chronic symptoms and morbidities related to cancer and its treatment, and to examine the effects of cancer and its treatment on quality of life and psychosocial issues and treatment strategies at the end of life. Active Projects can range from caregiver issues to geriatrics, physical functioning to cognitive dysfunction. | Examining symptoms and morbidities related to cancer, its treatment, quality of life and end of life.
[Palliative patients and their families - an inseparable complex system].
Passini, Andrea; Fässler-Weibel, Peter
On the basis of a case report it can be demonstrated, how important the acquirement about the social net of the patient for a palliative team is. The involvement of the family into dealing with death and ending of life is as important as the co-caring of the family itself. Only by recognizing the structures inside of a family, an optimal care can take place. PMID:22328051
[Palliative care in pediatrics, ethics and relations with the patient].
Friedel, Marie
The extension of the Belgian law on euthanasia to minors during the course of 2014 raises questions with regard to the needs of children in the context of paediatric palliative care. These needs concern essentially the focus given to the interrelations between the child, their family and the caregiving team as well as to the relief of the physical, psychological and spiritual pain. Ethical guidelines help to fuel the discussions surrounding professional practices. PMID:25608370
Animal-Assisted Therapy in Pediatric Palliative Care.
Gilmer, Mary Jo; Baudino, Marissa N; Tielsch Goddard, Anna; Vickers, Donna C; Akard, Terrah Foster
Animal-assisted therapy is an emerging complementary strategy with an increasing presence in the literature. Limited studies have been conducted with children, particularly those with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. Although outcomes show promise in decreasing suffering of children receiving palliative care services, more work is needed to validate evidence to support implementation of animal-assisted therapy with this vulnerable population. PMID:27497015
Elements of effective palliative care models: a rapid review
Background Population ageing, changes to the profiles of life-limiting illnesses and evolving societal attitudes prompt a critical evaluation of models of palliative care. We set out to identify evidence-based models of palliative care to inform policy reform in Australia. Method A rapid review of electronic databases and the grey literature was undertaken over an eight week period in April-June 2012. We included policy documents and comparative studies from countries within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published in English since 2001. Meta-analysis was planned where >1 study met criteria; otherwise, synthesis was narrative using methods described by Popay et al. (2006). Results Of 1,959 peer-reviewed articles, 23 reported systematic reviews, 9 additional RCTs and 34 non-randomised comparative studies. Variation in the content of models, contexts in which these were implemented and lack of detailed reporting meant that elements of models constituted a more meaningful unit of analysis than models themselves. Case management was the element most consistently reported in models for which comparative studies provided evidence for effectiveness. Essential attributes of population-based palliative care models identified by policy and addressed by more than one element were communication and coordination between providers (including primary care), skill enhancement, and capacity to respond rapidly to individuals' changing needs and preferences over time. Conclusion Models of palliative care should integrate specialist expertise with primary and community care services and enable transitions across settings, including residential aged care. The increasing complexity of care needs, services, interventions and contextual drivers warrants future research aimed at elucidating the interactions between different components and the roles played by patient, provider and health system factors. The findings of this review are limited by its
Stomach-interposed cholecystogastrojejunostomy: A palliative approach for periampullary carcinoma
Hao, Chun-Yi; Su, Xiang-Qian; Ji, Jia-Fu; Huang, Xin-Fu; Xing, Bao-Cai
AIM: For patients of periampullary carcinoma found to be unresectable at the time of laparotomy, surgical palliation is the primary choice of treatment. Satisfactory palliation to maximize the quality of life with low morbidity and mortality is the gold standard for a good procedure. Our aim is to explore such a procedure as an alternative to the traditional ones. METHODS: A modified double-bypass procedure is performed by, in addition to the usual gastrojejunostomy, implanting a mushroom catheter from the gall bladder into the jejunum through the interposed stomach as an internal drainage. A retrospective review was performed including 22 patients with incurable periampullary carcinomas who underwent this surgery. RESULTS: Both jaundice and impaired liver function improved significantly after surgery. No postoperative deaths, cholangitis, gastrojejunal, biliary anastomotic leaks, recurrent jaundice or late gastric outlet obstruction occurred. Delayed gastric emptying occurred in two patients. The total surgical time was 150±26 min. The estimated blood loss was 160±25 mL. The mean length of hospital stay after surgery was 22±6 d. The mean survival was 8 mo (range 1.5-18 mo). CONCLUSION: In patients of unresectable periampullary malignancies, stomach-interposed cholecystogastr-ojejunostomy is a safe, simple and efficient technique for palliation. PMID:15800996
More than trivial: strategies for using humor in palliative care.
Dean, Ruth Anne Kinsman; Gregory, David M
Humor and laughter are ubiquitous in human interactions. Terminal illness, however, is often accompanied by circumstances of anxiety, fear, and sadness. Hospice/palliative care emphasizes quality of life and the importance of human relationships. In this context, humor finds its place in authentic person-to-person connectedness. This article presents findings from a clinical ethnography that investigated the phenomena of humor and laughter in an inpatient palliative care unit. As a participant observer, the lead author accompanied 6 nurses throughout their day-to-day activities, twice weekly over 12 weeks. In addition to more than 200 hours of fieldwork, informal conversations were held with patients and families and semistructured interviews were conducted with nurses (n = 11), physicians (n = 2), a social worker (n = 1), and a physiotherapist (n = 1). Humor was pervasive, varied in the setting, and occurred across a range of intensities. Both clients and team members used humor to build relationships, contend with circumstances, and express sensibilities. Humor was affected by differences in people, differing circumstances, ethnicity, gender, and degree of stress. Participants relied on intuition as well as a constellation of other factors in discerning whether or not to use humor. Techniques for assessment included identification of cues such as expression in the eyes and timing as indications of receptivity. Combined with caring and sensitivity, humor is a powerful therapeutic asset in hospice/palliative care. It must neither be taken for granted nor considered trivial. PMID:16046892
The impact of volunteering in hospice palliative care.
Claxton-Oldfield, Stephen; Claxton-Oldfield, Jane
The goal of this study was to examine the impact of hospice palliative care work on volunteers' lives. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 direct-patient care volunteers. More than half of the volunteers became involved in hospice palliative care because of their own experiences with family members and/or friends who have died. Most of the volunteers reported that they were different now or had changed in some way since they have been volunteering (e.g., they had grown in some way, have learned how to keep things in perspective). In addition, most of the volunteers felt that their outlook on life had changed since they started volunteering (e.g., they were more accepting of death, and they learned the importance of living one day at a time). Volunteers reported doing a number of different things to prevent compassion fatigue or burnout (e.g., reading a book, listening to music, talking to others, and taking time off from volunteering). Most of the volunteers said that they would tell anyone who might be thinking of volunteering in hospice palliative care that it is a very rewarding activity and/or that they should try it. Finally, many of the volunteers offered suggestions for doing things differently in their programs. PMID:17895491
Understanding the optimal learning environment in palliative care.
Connell, Shirley E; Yates, Patsy; Barrett, Linda
The learning experiences of student nurses undertaking clinical placement are reported widely, however little is known about the learning experiences of health professionals undertaking continuing professional development (CPD) in a clinical setting, especially in palliative care. The aim of this study, which was conducted as part of the national evaluation of a professional development program involving clinical attachments with palliative care services (The Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach [PEPA]), was to explore factors influencing the learning experiences of participants over time. Thirteen semi-structured, one-to-one telephone interviews were conducted with five participants throughout their PEPA experience. The analysis was informed by the traditions of adult, social and psychological learning theories and relevant literature. The participants' learning was enhanced by engaging interactively with host site staff and patients, and by the validation of their personal and professional life experiences together with the reciprocation of their knowledge with host site staff. Self-directed learning strategies maximised the participants' learning outcomes. Inclusion in team activities aided the participants to feel accepted within the host site. Personal interactions with host site staff and patients shaped this social/cultural environment of the host site. Optimal learning was promoted when participants were actively engaged, felt accepted and supported by, and experienced positive interpersonal interactions with, the host site staff. PMID:20850915
Factors affecting recruitment to an observational multicentre palliative care study
Stone, Patrick C; Gwilliam, Bridget; Keeley, Vaughan; Todd, Chris; Kelly, Laura C; Barclay, Stephen
Objectives To identify those factors which adversely affected recruitment to a large multicentre palliative care study. Methods Patient accrual to a multicentre, observational, palliative care study was monitored at three critical junctures in the research process. (1) Eligibility—did the patient fulfil the study entry criteria? (2) Accessibility—was it possible to access the patient to be able to inform them about the study? (3) Consent—did the patient agree to participate in the study? The reasons why patients were ineligible, inaccessible or refused consent were recorded. Results 12 412 consecutive referrals to participating clinical services were screened for study inclusion of whom 5394 (43%) were deemed to be ineligible. Of the remaining patients 4617/7018 (66%) were inaccessible to the research team. The most common reasons being precipitous death, 'gatekeeping' by clinical staff or rapid discharge. Of the 2410 patients who were visited by the research team and asked to participate in the study 1378 (57%) declined. Overall 8.2% (1018/12 412) of patients screened participated in the study. There were significant differences in recruitment patterns between hospice inpatient units, hospital support and community palliative care teams. Conclusions Systematic monitoring and analysis of patient flows through the clinical trial accrual process provided valuable insights about the reasons for failure to recruit patients to a clinical trial and may help to improve recruitment in future studies. PMID:24644750
Assessing the effectiveness and acceptability of interprofessional palliative care education.
Koffman, Jonathan; Higginson, Irene J
Interprofessional education in health care in general and palliative care has been the focus of increasing attention in recent years. However, there is still controversy about its outcomes and few courses have been evaluated. The aims of this evaluation were to explore (1) the career progression of former students who attended an interprofessional MSc in palliative care; (2) the activities former students were engaged in as a result of attending the course; and (3) the experience of attending an interprofessional postgraduate course in palliative care. Former students who attended the course between January 1998 and January 2004 were surveyed using a postal questionnaire. Of the 56 students who completed the course, 44 (79%) responded; 23 (52%) were doctors, 20 (45%) nurses, and one an occupational therapist. Career progression was significant for doctors (Z=-2.08, p=0.04) and for nurses (Z=-2.4, p=0.017). Thirty-nine (89%) former students believed this was due to attending the course. Former students described a wide range of clinical, research, and service development activities they were involved in as a result of attending the course. Qualitative data highlighted the benefits of attending an interprofessional course where the following themes became evident: lateral thinking, challenging misconceptions, enhancing teamwork opportunities, and professional networks and confidence. Funding should be made available to extend interprofessional education to a wide range of professionals who care for patients with advanced disease and their families. PMID:16483095
The impact of an aging population on palliative care.
O'Brien, Tony
By 2050, it is predicted that 26% of the population will be aged 80 and over. Although older people have much to contribute, one challenging aspect of an aging population is the increasing rate of dementia. Palliative care is now included as part of the care pathway of a wide variety of nonmalignant diseases. The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) and the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EUGMS) have jointly called for every older citizen with chronic disease to be offered the best possible palliative care approach wherever they are cared for. This report is adapted from paineurope 2013; Issue 2, ©Haymarket Medical Publications Ltd., and is presented with permission. paineurope is provided as a service to pain management by Mundipharma International LTD. and is distributed free of charge to healthcare professionals in Europe. Archival issues can be accessed via the website: http://www.paineurope.com at which European health professionals can register online to receive copies of the quarterly publication. PMID:24303834
Integrating palliative care in the surgical and trauma intensive care unit: A report from the Improving Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit (IPAL-ICU) Project Advisory Board and the Center to Advance Palliative Care
Mosenthal, Anne C.; Weissman, David E.; Curtis, J. Randall; Hays, Ross M.; Lustbader, Dana R.; Mulkerin, Colleen; Puntillo, Kathleen A.; Ray, Daniel E.; Bassett, Rick; Boss, Renee D.; Brasel, Karen J.; Campbell, Margaret; Nelson, Judith E.
Objective Although successful models for palliative care delivery and quality improvement in the intensive care unit have been described, their applicability in surgical intensive care unit settings has not been fully addressed. We undertook to define specific challenges, strategies, and solutions for integration of palliative care in the surgical intensive care unit. Data Sources We searched the MEDLINE database from inception to May 2011 for all English language articles using the term "surgical palliative care" or the terms "surgical critical care," "surgical ICU," "surgeon," "trauma" or "transplant," and "palliative care" or "end-of- life care" and hand-searched our personal files for additional articles. Based on review of these articles and the experiences of our interdisciplinary expert Advisory Board, we prepared this report. Data Extraction and Synthesis We critically reviewed the existing literature on delivery of palliative care in the surgical intensive care unit setting focusing on challenges, strategies, models, and interventions to promote effective integration of palliative care for patients receiving surgical critical care and their families. Conclusions Characteristics of patients with surgical disease and practices, attitudes, and interactions of different disciplines on the surgical critical care team present distinctive issues for intensive care unit palliative care integration and improvement. Physicians, nurses, and other team members in surgery, critical care and palliative care (if available) should be engaged collaboratively to identify challenges and develop strategies. "Consultative," "integrative," and combined models can be used to improve intensive care unit palliative care, although optimal use of trigger criteria for palliative care consultation has not yet been demonstrated. Important components of an improvement effort include attention to efficient work systems and practical tools and to
Technical Excellence: A Requirement for Good Engineering
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Gill, Paul S.; Vaughan, William W.
Technical excellence is a requirement for good engineering. Technical excellence has many different ways of expressing itself within engineering. NASA has initiatives that address the enhancement of the Agency's technical excellence and thrust to maintain the associated high level of performance by the Agency on current programs/projects and as it moves into the Constellation Program and the return to the Moon with plans to visit Mars. This paper addresses some of the key initiatives associated with NASA's technical excellence thrust. Examples are provided to illustrate some results being achieved and plans to enhance these initiatives.
Palliative Care Education in Nurse Practitioner Programs: A Survey of Academic Deans.
Jensen-Seaman, Kari; Hebert, Randy S
The need for clinicians trained in palliative care will increase as more Americans live with life-limiting illness. Although multiple studies have described the nature of palliative care education in prelicensure programs, there have been no similar studies of nurse practitioner programs. We surveyed 101 nurse practitioner programs. Most programs provide little instruction in palliative care; education is often limited to a few hours of lecture. One-third of programs offer no instruction. Although palliative care is an important component of advanced practice nursing practice, programs may not be providing adequate education. PMID:26862687
Organization position statements and the stance of "studied neutrality" on euthanasia in palliative care.
Johnstone, Megan-Jane
In recent years, palliative care and related organizations have increasingly adopted a stance of "studied neutrality" on the question of whether euthanasia should be legalized as a bona fide medical regimen in palliative care contexts. This stance, however, has attracted criticism from both opponents and proponents of euthanasia. Pro-euthanasia activists see the stance as an official position of indecision that is fundamentally disrespectful of a patient's right to "choose death" when life has become unbearable. Some palliative care constituents, in turn, are opposed to the stance, contending that it reflects an attitude of "going soft" on euthanasia and as weakening the political resistance that has hitherto been successful in preventing euthanasia from becoming more widely legalized. In this article, attention is given to examining critically the notion and possible unintended consequences of adopting a stance of studied neutrality on euthanasia in palliative care. It is argued that although palliative care and related organizations have an obvious stake in the outcome of the euthanasia debate, it is neither unreasonable nor inconsistent for such organizations to be unwilling to take a definitive stance on the issue. It is further contended that, given the long-standing tenets of palliative care, palliative care organizations have both a right and a responsibility to defend the integrity of the principles and practice of palliative care and to resist demands for euthanasia to be positioned either as an integral part or logical extension of palliative care. PMID:22771130
Early palliative care and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer: potential mechanisms of prolonged survival.
Irwin, Kelly E; Greer, Joseph A; Khatib, Jude; Temel, Jennifer S; Pirl, William F
Patients with advanced cancer experience a significant burden of physical symptoms and psychological distress at the end of life, and many elect to receive aggressive cancer-directed therapy. The goal of palliative care is to relieve suffering and promote quality of life (QOL) for patients and families. Traditionally, both the public and medical community have conceptualized the need for patients to make a choice between pursuing curative therapy or receiving palliative care. However, practice guidelines from the World Health Organization and leadership from the oncology and palliative care communities advocate a different model of palliative care that is introduced from the point of diagnosis of life-threatening illness. Early palliative care has been shown to provide benefits in QOL, mood, and health care utilization. Additionally, preliminary research has suggested that in contrast to fears about palliative care hastening death, referral to palliative care earlier in the course of illness may have the potential to lengthen survival, particularly in patients with advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer. This review summarizes the literature on potential survival benefits of palliative care and presents a model of how early integrated palliative care could potentially influence survival in patients with advanced cancer. PMID:23355404
[Palliative surgery in squamous cell carcinoma of the anterior floor of the mouth].
Bachmann, G; Hess, A; Guntinas-Lichius, O; Jungehülsing, M
A 62 year old patient presented with a bleeding, incurable squamous cell carcinoma of the anterior floor of the mouth. A curative concept was not possible. After four palliative surgical procedures, a definitive and a palliative radiation therapy and a palliative chemotherapy, the patient remained free of tumor in the head and neck region for 2 years after the initial treatment. Using a combination of palliative procedures, it is possible not only to achieve a full local remission but also to provide a high quality of life. PMID:15309262
Palliative care for patients with end-stage renal failure: reflections from Central Australia.
Fried, Ofra
This paper explores palliative care issues for Australian Aboriginal patients with end-stage renal failure. Renal disease is epidemic amongst Aboriginal Australians. The Central Australian Palliative Care Service, based in the remote town of Alice Springs, sees a high proportion of renal patients, with different demographic characteristics to those seen in urban palliative care services. A case history illustrates distinctive concerns for local service provision, including communication issues, cultural requirements for maximizing quality of life, and the need to provide care in remote locations. Palliation for end-stage renal failure (ESRF) patients should be based on standard principles, but modified in accordance with local practical requirements and community needs. PMID:14526885
Victoria BGY palliative care model--a new model for the 1990s.
Downing, G M; Braithwaite, D L; Wilde, J M
If, as palliative care practitioners, we ensure that distressing symptoms such as pain, vomiting, dyspnea, confusion, and pre-death restlessness are fully controlled (note "fully"), then most people are deeply appreciative and continue to live until they die, confident that whatever happens, their worth, desires, and comfort are secure. Credibility (Latin, fides dignus) is remaining true and reliable to what was agreed. Patients registering with palliative care generally desire comfort, which can only occur when palliative care physicians and programs are capable and willing to apply all three types of palliation discussed here--the BGY model. PMID:7510798
An interprofessional education programme for medical learners during a one-month palliative care rotation.
Stilos, Kalli; Daines, Patricia; Moore, Jennifer
Interprofessional education in health care and in palliative care has been the focus of increasing attention in recent years. For health professionals to provide and deliver high-quality palliative care, collaboration and teamwork is required. Palliative care is the ideal service to introduce interprofessional teamwork to medical learners early on in their training. During a 1-month palliative care rotation in Ontario, Canada, medical learners completed a questionnaire seeking their feedback on the interprofessional team model. This article will highlight the results of the questionnaire, how the team promotes a culture of interprofessional collaborative practice, and the supportive structures that foster collaboration among professionals. PMID:27119406
Quality of death: a dimensional analysis of palliative care in the nursing home.
Trotta, Rebecca L
Palliative care in nursing homes is increasingly discussed, investigated, and implemented, yet the term lacks conceptual clarity and definition. Furthermore, the components, process, and outcomes of palliative care as it is delivered in the nursing home have not been clearly articulated. This paper provides a dimensional analysis of palliative care in the nursing home to elucidate the concept and its context and consequences, as portrayed through available literature. As a method, dimensional analysis is rooted in symbolic interaction and grounded theory. As such, it provides a useful tool with which to analyze existing literature on palliative care in the nursing home. In this dimensional analysis, communication is the dominant perspective of palliative care in the nursing home. This analysis demonstrates that the consequences of palliative care in the nursing home are personhood and identity, and quality of death rather than quality of life. These consequences suggest that the focus of palliative care should be on the nursing home resident and the dying experience, rather than quality of life and issues around living that exclude the dying experience and do not acknowledge the personhood and identity of the resident. These elements represent a shift in focus away from one that does not include death, toward the dying experience, and that such a change in focus is necessary to achieve palliative care in the nursing home. Finally, the analysis elucidates potential outcome measures for the study of palliative care in nursing homes and outlines possibilities for further research. PMID:17985968
Exploring the leadership role of the clinical nurse specialist on an inpatient palliative care consulting team.
Stilos, Kalli; Daines, Pat
Demand for palliative care services in Canada will increase owing to an aging population and the evolving role of palliative care in non-malignant illness. Increasing healthcare demands continue to shape the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) role, especially in the area of palliative care. Clinical nurse specialists bring specialized knowledge, skills and leadership to the clinical setting to enhance patient and family care. This paper highlights the clinical leadership role of the CNS as triage leader for a hospital-based palliative care consulting team. Changes to the team's referral and triage processes are emphasized as key improvements to team efficiency and timely access to care for patients and families. PMID:24863582