Palliative care needs and symptom patterns of hospitalized elders referred for consultation.

Context: To provide effective palliative care (PC) to the geriatric population, an understanding of the reasons for consultation, main diagnoses related to referral, and symptom severity in chronic disease states is essential.

Objectives: We compared the baseline characteristics, referral patterns, and symptom severity among older and younger patients referred for inpatient PC consultation.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 2382 inpatient PC consultations.

Treatment of malignant pleural effusion: PleuRx catheter or talc pleurodesis? A cost-effectiveness analysis.

Introduction: Malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) complicate many advanced malignancies and the median prognosis for those who develop MPEs is 6 months. These effusions lead patients to suffer from significant dyspnea, which may consequently impair mobility and lead to reduced quality of life. There are several treatment options for those with MPE.

Evaluation of a required palliative care rotation for internal medicine residents.

Introduction: Internal medicine programs are now required to integrate palliative care into teaching conferences, and palliative care content is already tested on the American Board of Internal Medicine examination. Previous research has focused on integration of palliative care into existing rotations and seminars, but none has studied a required inpatient palliative care rotation.

Objective: We evaluate the impact of a required palliative care rotation for internal medicine residents in four domains: pain management, non-pain symptom management, communication/ethics, and terminal care.