Exploring unmet concerns in home hospice cancer care: Perspectives of patients, informal caregivers, palliative care providers, and family physicians.

Objectives: The study examines perspectives of patients in home hospice care; their informal caregivers; palliative health-care providers (HCPs); and family physicians, all regarding patients' unmet needs and quality of life (QoL)-related concerns.

Methods: Participants from all 4 groups were approached within 2 months after the patient's admission to the home hospice care unit. Participants completed Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) and Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCAW) questionnaires, for patient's QoL-related concerns.

Exploring primary care physician feedback following an integrative oncology consultation.

Objective: To explore responses from primary care physicians (PCPs) from an integrative physician (IP) consultation and recommended integrative oncology (IO) treatment program.

Methods: Chemotherapy-treated patients were referred by their oncology healthcare professional to an IP, a physician dually trained in complementary medicine and supportive cancer care. The consultation summary and patient-centered IO treatment program was then sent to the patient's PCP, with PCP-to-IP responses analyzed qualitatively using ATLAS.

Integrative oncology for palliative care nurses: pre-post training evaluation.

Objectives: Integrative oncology (IO) is increasingly being incorporated in supportive and palliative cancer care. This study examined an IO-palliative care training programme for nurses from community and hospital settings.

Methods: A 120-hour course, attended by 24 palliative care nurses without IO training, included precourse/postcourse questionnaires examining knowledge, attitudes and level of IO-palliative care skills.

End-of-life Care Among Gynecological Oncology Patients in a Single Institute in Israel.

Background: Early referral to palliative care services in patients with advanced cancer is widely accepted. In addition, the use of futile intervention at the end of life is a pivotal aspect of assessing quality of care at that time.

Objectives: To evaluate the use of palliative care and aggressive treatments during the last month of life in women with gynecological malignancies.

Impact of a combined integrative oncology and palliative care program on quality of life of patients with advanced cancer.

Many oncology centers provide integrative oncology (IO) care, many within palliative care settings. The primary study objective was to examine the impact of IO-palliative patient-tailored program on quality of life (QoL) among patients with advanced cancer. In this pragmatic prospective controlled study, patients with advanced cancer undergoing chemotherapy/palliative care were referred by their oncology healthcare providers to an integrative physician (IP) consultation and weekly IO treatments.

Providing integrative care in the pre-chemotherapy setting: a pragmatic controlled patient-centered trial with implications for supportive cancer care.

Context And Objectives: To examine the impact of a complementary/integrative medicine (CIM) program on quality of life (QoL)-related concerns among patients scheduled for chemotherapy for breast and gynecologic cancer.

Methods: Chemotherapy-naïve patients were referred by their oncology healthcare professional to an integrative oncology program, where CIM is provided as part of palliative/supportive care. CIM treatments were tailored to patients' preferences and leading concerns, and for most included acupuncture and mind-body-spirit modalities, which were usually co-administered in the week preceding the first chemotherapy cycle.

Integration of complementary medicine in supportive cancer care: survey of health-care providers' perspectives from 16 countries in the Middle East.

Introduction: In this multinational Middle-Eastern study, we assessed health-care providers' (HCPs) perspectives on their patients' use of complementary and traditional medicine (CTM) and identified the leading barriers to CTM integration in supportive cancer care.

Methods: A 17-item questionnaire was developed and administered to HCPs attending palliative medicine workshops conducted across the Middle East by the Middle East Cancer Consortium.

Results: 339 HCPs from 16 countries across the Middle East completed the questionnaire (80.

Compared perspectives of Arab patients in Palestine and Israel on the role of complementary medicine in cancer care.

Context: Complementary medicine (CM) is extensively used by patients with cancer across the Middle East.

Objectives: We aimed to compare the perspectives of two Arab populations residing in diverse socioeconomic-cultural settings in Palestine and Israel regarding the role of CM in supportive cancer care.

Methods: A 27-item questionnaire was constructed and administered to a convenience sample of Arab patients receiving cancer care in four oncology centers in northern Israel and Palestine.

Integrating family medicine and complementary medicine in cancer care: a cross-cultural perspective.

In this paper, we describe the case study of a 27 year-old Arab female patient receiving palliative care for advanced breast cancer who was referred to complementary medicine (CM) consultation provided within a conventional oncology department. We explore the impact of the integrative CM practitioners' team of three family physicians and one Chinese medicine practitioner on the patient's well-being and specifically on the alleviation of her debilitating hot flashes and insomnia. This quality of life improvement is also affirmed by comparing the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) and Measure Yourself Concerns and Well-being (MYCAW) questionnaires administered at the initial and follow-up assessment sessions.

Touching the other's suffering: cross-cultural challenges in palliative treatment along geopolitical crossroads.

The authors describe the cross-cultural considerations in caring for a Palestinian breast cancer patient by an Israeli heath care team. The processes that facilitated a metamorphosis from possible hostility to receptiveness based on historical cultural conflicts were rooted in professionalism, patient-centered care, and cross-cultural sensitivity, woven into the patient’s own health beliefs and affinity to traditional Islamic medicine.