"It's not a one-person show" E-learning course in neuropalliative care: A qualitative analysis of participants' educational gains and self-reported outcomes.

Objectives: Patients with progressive neurologic illness still lack access to quality palliative care services. Barriers to the comprehensive provision of neuropalliative care include gaps in palliative care education. To address this barrier, a novel international model of neuropalliative care education e-learning program was launched in 2022.

Communication in Neuropalliative Care.

Serious illness communication needs are high among patients with neurological conditions, from the time of diagnosis to the end of life. This article will highlight unique needs among these patients, strategies for optimizing communication, and techniques to learn and teach these skills along the continuum of a career in neurology.

"So we brought these players together": a qualitative study of educators' experiences to analyze the challenges of creating an e-learning program for neuropalliative care.

Background: In recent years, the subspecialty of neuropalliative care has emerged with the goal of improving the quality of life of patients suffering from neurological disease, though gaps remain in neuropalliative care education and training. E-learning has been described as a way to deliver interactive and facilitated lower-cost learning to address global gaps in medical care. We describe here the development of a novel, international, hybrid, and asynchronous curriculum with both self-paced modules and class-based lectures on neuropalliative care topics designed for the neurologist interested in palliative care, the palliative care physician interested in caring for neurological patients, and any other physician or advanced care providers interested in neuropalliative care.

Palliative Care in Neuro-oncology.

Historically, the practice of neurology as an independent subspecialty from internal medicine began in Europe and the United States in the 1930s. The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) was founded 75 years ago in 1948, solidifying its emergence as a stand-alone discipline of medicine. In 1967, St.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know about Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, immune-mediated, neurodegenerative condition of the central nervous system, with distinct challenges due to its heterogeneous presentation, prognostic uncertainty, and variable clinical course of neurological and non-neurological symptoms and disability. Although there have been significant advances in management of MS, many patients experience disability progression. Despite MS being a frequent cause of neurological disability, particularly in young persons, involvement of palliative care physicians in the care of patients with MS has been limited.

Education in neuropalliative care.

The importance and value of providing palliative care for patients with neurologic disease is increasingly recognized. While palliative and neuropalliative specialists may be well-positioned to provide this care, there is a shortage of specialists to address these needs. As a result, much of the upfront palliative care will naturally be provided by the treating neurologist.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Disorders of Consciousness: A Focus on Traumatic and Anoxic Brain Injury.

Palliative care (PC) teams commonly encounter patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) following anoxic or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Primary teams may consult PC to help surrogates in making treatment choices for these patients. PC clinicians must understand the complexity of predicting neurologic outcomes, address clinical nihilism, and appropriately guide surrogates in making decisions that are concordant with patients' goals.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Strokes.

Stroke is a common cause of long-term disability and death, which leaves many patients with significant and unique palliative care (PC) needs. Shared decision-making for patients with stroke poses distinct challenges due to the sudden nature of stroke, the uncertainty inherent in prognostication around recovery, and the common necessity of relying on surrogates for decision-making. Patients with stroke suffer from frequently underrecognized symptoms, which PC clinicians should feel comfortable identifying and treating.

The Role of Specialty Palliative Care for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disease resulting in the loss of motor neurons, eventually leading to death. ALS results in complex physical, emotional, and spiritual care needs. Specialty Palliative Care (SPC) is a medical specialty for patients with serious illness that provides an extra layer of support through complicated symptom management, goals of care conversations, and support to patients and families during hard times.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Seizures at the End of Life.

Seizures are physically burdensome and emotionally distressing for patients, families, caregivers, and clinicians. Patients with neurological diseases are at increased risk of having complex, difficult-to-control seizures at the end of life. Palliative care (PC) clinicians asked to provide management of these seizures may not be familiar or comfortable with more complex seizures or epilepsy.

Models of outpatient neuropalliative care for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Objective: To describe some current models of outpatient neuropalliative care (NPC) available to patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at different institutions within the United States.

Methods: Six NPC physicians were asked to contribute written descriptions about the PC available in their ALS clinics. Descriptions were then compiled and assessed for similarities and differences.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder with enormous palliative care (PC) needs that begin at the time of diagnosis. Although it is an uncommon disease, clinicians who work in PC or hospice are likely to encounter ALS somewhat frequently given the needs of patients with ALS with regard to psychosocial support, symptom management, advance care planning (ACP), caregiver support, and end-of-life care. As such, PC clinicians should be familiar with the basic principles of ALS symptoms, treatments, disease course, and issues around ACP.

Advance care planning in Parkinson's disease: ethical challenges and future directions.

Recent discoveries support the principle that palliative care may improve the quality of life of patients with Parkinson's disease and those who care for them. Advance care planning, a component of palliative care, provides a vehicle through which patients, families, and clinicians can collaborate to identify values, goals, and preferences early, as well as throughout the disease trajectory, to facilitate care concordant with patient wishes. While research on this topic is abundant in other life-limiting disorders, particularly in oncology, there is a paucity of data in Parkinson's disease and related neurological disorders.