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Palliative Care

News Release

Growing Evidence Supports Best Practices in Palliative Care

A rapidly aging U.S. population with complex care needs will likely accelerate emphasis on palliative care services. A review of palliative care research found substantial evidence to support clinical practice guidelines and was incorporated into the new edition of the guidelines.

Oct 31, 2018
Periodical

Periodical

RAND Review: March-April 2018

This issue features a Q&A with Michael Rich, Soledad O'Brien, and Francis Fukuyama on the perils of truth decay, and a story on the trend toward unretirement among U.S. workers. The Voices column features Gulrez Shah Azhar on environmental refugees.

Mar 5, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Changing Structures and Processes to Support Family Caregivers of Seriously Ill Patients

Fundamental changes are needed in the way we identify, assess, and support family caregivers of seriously ill relatives.

Dec 15, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Black And Hispanic Patients Receive Hospice Care Similar To That Of White Patients When In The Same Hospices

Black and Hispanic patients received care from poorer quality hospices than white patients.

Aug 1, 2017
News Release

News Release

Black and Hispanic Patients More Likely to Use Lower-Quality Hospices

Black and Hispanic patients are more likely to receive care from poorer-quality hospices. And their family caregivers are less likely to receive the right amount of emotional and religious support in hospice care. However, caregivers of black and Hispanic patients report similar or better experiences than caregivers of white patients within a given hospice.

Jul 5, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Development and Feasibility of a Structured Goals of Care Communication Guide

Studies demonstrate the benefits of discussing goals of care and advance care planning, yet many patients with serious illness do not engage in such discussions with healthcare providers.

May 30, 2017
Journal Article

Populations and Interventions for Palliative and End-of-Life Care: A Systematic Review

This evidence review found that palliative care improves outcomes for cancer, dementia, congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Sep 12, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Factors Associated with Family Reports of Pain, Dyspnea, and Depression in the Last Year of Life

Family reports of patients' experiences with pain, difficult breathing, and depression near the end of life suggest strategies at the clinical and population level for assessing and managing symptoms.

Aug 23, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Lack of Documentation of Preferences in a Cohort of Adults Who Died After Ischemic Stroke

Stroke patients' wishes to limit life-sustaining interventions were documented in less than 40 percent of cases in which patients died 30 days after hospital admission.

Apr 22, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

A Qualitative Inquiry on Palliative and End-of-Life Care Policy Reform

Despite recent broad interest in reforming end-of-life care policies, the palliative care field faces many challenges to expanding use.

Apr 20, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

A Systematic Review of Family Meeting Tools in Palliative and Intensive Care Settings

We systematically reviewed PubMed for articles describing family meeting tools and abstracted information on tool type, usage, and content.

Feb 22, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Association of Early Patient-Physician Care Planning Discussions and End-of-Life Care Intensity in Advanced Cancer

Early patient-physician care planning discussions may influence the intensity of end-of-life (EOL) care received by veterans with advanced cancer.

Jul 28, 2015
Journal Article

Journal Article

A Scalable Web-Based Module for Improving Surgical and Medical Practitioner Knowledge and Attitudes About Palliative and End-of-Life Care

We built a web-based, interactive, self-directed learning module about end-of-life care.

Jul 16, 2015
Dissertation

Dissertation

Go Gentle into That Good Night: The Past, Present, and Future of End-of-Life Care

Examines the past, present, and future of end-of-life care in order to shed light on the most effective ways to organize and deliver it.

May 26, 2015
Journal Article

Journal Article

Factors Associated with Palliative Withdrawal of Mechanical Ventilation and Time to Death After Withdrawal

In imminently dying patients, mechanical ventilation withdrawal is often a comfort measure and avoids prolonging the dying process.

Apr 29, 2015
Journal Article

Journal Article

Impact of Consideration of Transplantation on End-of-Life Care for Patients During a Terminal Hospitalization

Many patients considered for transplantation die before receiving the organ, underlining the importance of providing high-quality symptomatic relief and communication for all transplant patients.

Apr 29, 2015
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Invisible Homebound: Setting Quality-of-Care Standards for Home-Based Primary and Palliative Care

This article describes the current status of home-based medical care in the United States and offers a brief narrative of a fictional homebound patient and the health events and fragmented care she faces.

Jan 8, 2015
Report

Hospice Experience of Care Survey: Development and Field Test

This report describes development of the Hospice Experience of Care Survey, field test design, procedures, analytic methods and findings, and the final survey for national implementation by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Aug 8, 2014
Commentary

What to Do About 'Futile' Critical Care

There are times when no amount of care, however cutting-edge it is, will save a patient. In these instances, further critical care is said to be “futile.” This type of treatment is not uncommon in intensive care units, and that raises some uncomfortable questions.

Sep 13, 2013
Brochure

Assessing Patients' Experiences with Care

Understanding how patients experience care can encourage delivery of high-quality services. It also helps payers, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, ensure that they pay for effective and efficient care.

Jun 26, 2013

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