Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Working With Adults Receiving Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an invasive intervention that is both resource- and labor-intensive. It can also be emotionally challenging for all involved. Palliative care (PC) clinicians can support adult patients, families, surrogate decision makers, and the interdisciplinary team (IDT) throughout ECMO, starting at the time of ECMO initiation through discontinuation and to bereavement in the event of a patient's death.

Response Rates to Methylnaltrexone in Hospitalized Cancer Patients.

Methylnaltrexone is a peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist studied in both cancer and non-cancer patients with opioid-induced constipation (OIC), but mostly in the outpatient setting. For adult hospitalized cancer patients with OIC, its effectiveness is unknown. Objectives: Describe the efficacy of methylnaltrexone for OIC in the inpatient setting, defined as bowel movement (BM) within 24 hours of methylnaltrexone administration.

Teaching residents how to break bad news: piloting a resident-led curriculum and feedback task force as a proof-of-concept study.

Background: Breaking bad news (BBN) is a critically important skill set for residents. Limited formal supervision and unpredictable timing of bad news delivery serve as barriers to the exchange of meaningful feedback.

Purpose Of Study: The goal of this educational innovation was to improve internal medicine residents' communication skills during challenging BBN encounters.

Outcomes of palliative care consultation in patients with ESRD who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Background: The majority of dialysis patients receive aggressive burdensome treatment near the end of life. Currently, we lack interventions to improve end-of-life care (EoLC) for these patients. We examined the association of palliative care consultation with improving EoLC for critically ill patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Comparison of Burnout and Empathy Among Millennial and Generation X Residents and Fellows: Associations with Training Level and Race but Not Generation Affiliation.

Objective: The authors examine the associations of generational affiliation on empathy and burnout in a sample of millennial (born between 1982 and 2000) and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1981) residents and fellows.

Methods: At a single large institution during the 2013-2014 academic year, residents and fellows were asked to complete the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Responses were combined with GME database content.

Practicing Communication Skills For Responding to Emotionally Charged Questions.

Objective: To assess the impact of a 1-hour communication skills workshop highlighting the "ask more and summarize technique" (AMST) to teach residents an effective way to respond to emotionally charged questions.

Methods: From December 2015 to January 2017, residents on an inpatient oncology or palliative medicine rotation attended a mandatory 1-hour workshop on AMST involving a short introduction to the technique followed by skills practice. A survey (S1) was administered to the residents during the first session to assess their self-reported attitudes and practices.

Empathy, burnout, and antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections: a cross-sectional primary care study in the US.

Background: The impact of physician-patient relationship factors, such as physician empathy and burnout, on antibiotic prescribing has not been characterised.

Aim: To assess associations between physician empathy and burnout and antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in primary care.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional study of primary care practices in the Cleveland Clinic Health System in the US.