"A Soft Death": Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Palliative Care in Senegal.

Background And Objectives: Palliative care (PC) is a specialty medical service that aims to address the bio-psycho-social-spiritual needs of patients with serious illnesses and their care partners. Despite the value of PC, its expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa has been uneven and particularly underdeveloped in Senegal due to variability in access to training resources and funding. This study sought to understand the current landscape of PC services in Senegal and the barriers and opportunities in its growth.

Patient and caregiver questions and clinician responses during initial outpatient neuropalliative care appointments.

Objective: Open communication during appointments exemplifies person-centered care. The current study characterized questions asked by persons with neurologic illnesses and their caregivers-and clinicians' responses to those questions-during initial outpatient palliative care appointments.

Methods: We coded type (direct or indirect) and topic of questions stated by patients and their caregivers in audio recordings from 38 initial outpatient palliative care appointments.

Effects of a Patient Question Prompt List on Question Asking and Self-Efficacy During Outpatient Palliative Care Appointments.

Context: Question prompt lists (QPLs) promote participation during medical appointments, including in the context of serious illness care. However, no studies have used parameters of a theoretical framework to examine the effects of QPL use in outpatient palliative care.

Objectives: The current pilot randomized controlled trial evaluated use of a 25-question QPL during initial outpatient palliative care appointments.