Education for people with serious chronic respiratory diseases and their informal caregivers: how to address challenges that impact learning.

Purpose Of Review: Shared decision making is crucial in palliative care for people with serious chronic respiratory diseases and their informal caregivers. Patient education is a critical component in this process, as it provides patients and their informal caregivers the necessary knowledge for informed decisions regarding symptom management, coping with breathlessness, and advance care planning. However, education does not automatically lead to acquiring knowledge.

Understanding Nonpharmacologic Palliative Care for People With Serious COPD: The Individual and Organizational Perspective.

Topic Importance: This narrative review emphasizes the growing interest in palliative care for people with serious lung diseases such as COPD. It reflects on recent publications from the American Thoracic Society, the World Health Organization, and European Respiratory Society, with a focus on nonpharmacologic palliative care for people with COPD from both the health care professional and organizational perspective.

Review Findings: The concept of palliative care has changed over time and is now seen as applicable throughout the entire disease trajectory according to need, in conjunction with any disease-modifying therapies.

End-of-life preferences of people with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objectives: To identify end-of-life preferences of people with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to compare characteristics between those who wish to discuss the end-of-life and those who do not.

Methods: An analysis of the baseline data of a randomised controlled trial was performed including people with COPD GOLD stages III-IV or former quadrant D with modified Medical Research Council questionnaire grade ≥2, after hospital discharge following an exacerbation. Participants were interviewed using the End-of-Life Preferences Interview.

Reliability and Validity of the New Urgency Classification Model for Acute Medical Care in Dutch Nursing Home Setting.

Objective: To validate an Urgency Classification Model developed for telephone triage in Dutch nursing homes.

Design: Retrospective observational study.

Setting And Participants: Retrospective analysis of triage data of nursing home residents in a medical service organization, active in 40 nursing homes across the Netherlands.

Fundamentals of end-of-life communication as part of advance care planning for older people: An interview study with nursing staff.

This exploratory interview study investigated nursing staff members' perspectives on the fundamentals of end-of-life communication with older people as part of advance care planning in home care, nursing home, and hospital settings. Separate semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 nursing staff members about their experiences, opinions, and preferences before, during, and after end-of-life conversations. Overall themes clustering the fundamentals include preconditions such as feeling comfortable talking about the end of life and creating space for open communication.

Symptom burden and its associations with clinical characteristics in patients with COPD: a clustering approach.

Background: Symptom burden in patients with COPD is often under-recognised. In this cross-sectional analysis, we aimed to study the severity of a variety of (non-)respiratory symptoms in patients with and without COPD and to explore the associations between clusters based on symptom severity and other clinical characteristics.

Methods: Characteristics were assessed in 538 patients with COPD from primary, secondary and tertiary care and 116 non-COPD participants.

Desired dementia care towards end of life: Development and experiences of implementing a new approach to improve person-centred dementia care.

Aims: To describe the co-creation of the 'Desired Dementia Care Towards End of Life' (DEDICATED) approach to improve person-centred palliative care for individuals with dementia and to describe the experiences of healthcare professionals during the approach's implementation.

Methods: A needs assessment, comprising both qualitative and quantitative studies, informed palliative care needs of healthcare professionals, family caregivers and individuals with dementia. The approach was co-created with healthcare and education professionals, guided by the findings.

Motivation and preferences for learning of patients with COPD or asthma and their significant others in pulmonary rehabilitation: a qualitative study.

Introduction: An in-depth understanding of educational needs from the perspective of learners in pulmonary rehabilitation is lacking. To improve learning in pulmonary rehabilitation, understanding of factors that induce or enhance intrinsic motivation in both patients and their significant others is needed. Therefore, this study aims to gain in-depth understanding of what motivates patients with COPD or asthma referred for pulmonary rehabilitation and their significant others to learn and what their preferences are for education.

Effects of Asthma on the Performance of Activities of Daily Living: A Retrospective Study.

The study aim was to identify the most problematic self--reported activities of daily living (ADLs). In a retrospective study, 1935 problematic ADLs were reported by 538 clients with 95% experiencing two or more problematic ADLs. Problematic ADLs were assessed by occupational therapists using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure with walking (67%), household activities (41%), and climbing the stairs (41%) identified as the most prevalent problematic ADLs.

Association of inadequate social support and clinical outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), loneliness and social isolation are associated with increased morbidity and decreased mobility, self-reliance, and health-related quality of life. Social support has been shown to improve these outcomes.

Aims: This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the level of experienced social support and the clinical outcomes associated with inadequate social support among patients with COPD with a resident loved one.

Integrating palliative care education in pulmonary rehabilitation: a randomized controlled study protocol.

Background: Palliative care addresses multiple unmet needs of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or interstitial lung diseases (ILD) and their family and/or friend caregivers, but it remains highly underused. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) may provide a key opportunity to introduce palliative care. We aim to explore the effects of palliative care education as part of PR on knowledge about this field in people with COPD or ILD and their family and/or friend caregivers.

Impact of post-COVID-19 condition on health status and activities of daily living: the PRIME post-COVID study.

Objective: To assess health and activities of daily living (ADL) in SARS-CoV-2-positive adults with and without post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) and compare this with negative tested individuals. Furthermore, different PCC case definitions were compared with SARS-CoV-2-negative individuals.

Methods: All adults tested PCR positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the Public Health Service South Limburg (Netherlands) between June 2020 and November 2021 (n=41 780) and matched PCR negative individuals (2:1, on age, sex, year-quarter test, municipality; n=19 875) were invited by email.

Development of the conversation tool "I-HARP for COPD" for early identification of palliative care needs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop the conversation tool "I-HARP for COPD" for timely identification of palliative care needs in Dutch patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: An iterative and participatory research design was used to develop "I-HARP for COPD". There were 2 phases to the development of "I-HARP for COPD": content development and testing.

Fundamentals of end-of-life communication as part of advance care planning from the perspective of nursing staff, older people, and family caregivers: a scoping review.

Background: Nursing staff is ideally positioned to play a central role in end-of-life communication as part of advance care planning for older people. However, this requires specific skills and competences. Only fragmented knowledge is available concerning important fundamentals in end-of-life communication performed by nursing staff.

Should opioids be used for breathlessness and in whom? A PRO and CON debate of the evidence.

Purpose Of Review: The net clinical benefit of opioids for chronic breathlessness has been challenged by recent randomized clinical trials. The purpose was to review and weigh the evidence for and against opioid treatment for chronic breathlessness in people with serious disease.

Recent Findings: Evidence to date on the efficacy and safety of opioids for chronic breathlessness was reviewed.

Prevalence of dyspnea in general adult populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Dyspnea is a commonly described symptom in various chronic and acute conditions. Despite its frequency, relatively little is known about the prevalence and assessment of dyspnea in general populations. The aims of this review were: 1) to estimate the prevalence of dyspnea in general adult populations; 2) to identify associated factors; and 3) to identify used methods for dyspnea assessment.

Symptoms and quality of life before, during, and after a SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive or negative test: data from Lifelines.

This study evaluates to what extent symptoms are present before, during, and after a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, and to evaluate how the symptom burden and quality of Life (QoL) compares to those with a negative PCR test. Participants from the Dutch Lifelines COVID-19 Cohort Study filled-out as of March 2020 weekly, later bi-weekly and monthly, questions about demographics, COVID-19 diagnosis and severity, QoL, and symptoms. The study population included those with one positive or negative PCR test who filled out two questionnaires before and after the test, resulting in 996 SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive and 3978 negative participants.

I want to be seen as myself: needs and perspectives of persons with dementia concerning collaboration and a possible future move to the nursing home in palliative dementia care.

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) within and during movements between care settings is crucial for optimal palliative dementia care. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of persons with dementia regarding collaboration with and between healthcare professionals (HCPs) and their perceptions of a possible future move to the nursing home (NH) in palliative dementia care. We conducted a cross-sectional qualitative study and performed semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of persons with dementia living at home ( = 18).