Design and development of a new pictorial tool to facilitate communication around advance care planning.

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) aims to ensure that people with chronic or advanced disease receive medical care that is consistent with their values and preferences. However, professionals may find it challenging to engage these patients in conversations about the end of life. We sought to develop a pictorial tool to facilitate communication around ACP.

Correction: An International Consensus Definition of the Wish to Hasten Death and Its Related Factors.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Efficacy and Safety of Methadone as a Second-Line Opioid for Cancer Pain in an Outpatient Clinic: A Prospective Open-Label Study.

Introduction: Most clinical reports on methadone rotation describe outcomes in hospitalized patients. The few studies that have included outpatients are retrospective. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of methadone as a second-line opioid in adult patients with advanced cancer after rotation in routine clinical practice at a palliative care outpatient clinic.

An International Consensus Definition of the Wish to Hasten Death and Its Related Factors.

Background: The desire for hastened death or wish to hasten death (WTHD) that is experienced by some patients with advanced illness is a complex phenomenon for which no widely accepted definition exists. This lack of a common conceptualization hinders understanding and cooperation between clinicians and researchers. The aim of this study was to develop an internationally agreed definition of the WTHD.

What Gives Meaning in Life to Patients With Advanced Cancer? A Comparison Between Spanish, German, and Swiss Patients.

Context: Meaning in life (MiL) is a construct that varies across individuals, situations, cultures, and countries, and protects against emotional distress at the end of life.

Objectives: To examine MiL in inpatients with advanced cancer from Barcelona, Spain, and to compare the findings with those obtained in German and Swiss samples.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in which the Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation (SMiLE) was administered.

Physical and psychological factors and the wish to hasten death in advanced cancer patients.

Background: Qualitative research suggests that the wish to hasten death (WTHD) in the advanced stages of disease is mainly related to overall suffering. This quantitative study explores the relationship between the WTHD and psychological and physical factors, including survival, in patients with advanced cancer.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of 101 advanced cancer patients admitted to an acute Palliative Care Unit (PCU) and followed-up for survival.

[Use of methadone in the elderly with cancer pain: a systematic review].

Objective: To identify the clinical use of methadone as an analgesic in the management of cancer pain in elderly patients.

Material And Methods: We performed a systemic review of the literature on the specific use of methadone in elderly with cancer pain in MEDLINE, COCHRANE DATABASE and SCOPUS. A second search was conducted in MEDLINE to look for clinical trials and systematic review of the use of methadone in cancer pain, selecting only those in which the mean age of patients was ≥ 65 years old.

What lies behind the wish to hasten death? A systematic review and meta-ethnography from the perspective of patients.

Background: There is a need for an in-depth approach to the meaning of the wish to hasten death (WTHD). This study aims to understand the experience of patients with serious or incurable illness who express such a wish.

Methods And Findings: Systematic review and meta-ethnography of qualitative studies from the patient's perspective.

Psychometric properties of the Spanish form of the Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation (SMiLE).

Objective: The objective of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the SMiLE (Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation). The SMiLE is a respondent-generated instrument: respondents are first asked to list three to seven areas, which provide meaning to their lives, and then to rate their current satisfaction with the listed areas, as well as the individual importance of each one. Indices of total weighting (IoW), total satisfaction (IoS), and total weighted satisfaction (IoWS) are calculated.

The wish to hasten death: a review of clinical studies.

It is common for patients who are faced with physical or psychological suffering, particularly those in the advanced stages of a disease, to have some kind of wish to hasten death (WTHD). This paper reviews and summarises the current state of knowledge about the WTHD among people with end-stage disease, doing so from a clinical perspective and on the basis of published clinical research. Studies were identified through a search strategy applied to the main scientific databases.

[Orthostatic and postprandial hypotension in elderly patients with chronic diseases and disability: prevalence and related factors].

Introduction: To assess the prevalence of orthostatic hypotension (OH) and postprandial hypotension (PPH) in patients admitted to an intermediate care unit, as well as to analyze the characteristics of these patients.

Patients And Methods: Sixty patients were analyzed according to the following criteria: age >65 years, able to take food orally, stand up and/or sit down, and clinically stable. A comprehensive geriatric assessment was carried out and the main diagnosis and the presence of autonomic neuropathy symptoms (ANS) were registered.