From comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative care.

Background: Palliative care requires a multidisciplinary team to assist patients and their families to obtain good quality care at the end of life. Typically, community pharmacists have fewer opportunities to provide services for patients with palliative care needs than hospital pharmacists. Moreover, home-based palliative care (HBPC) by pharmacists remains low and there is a lack of research regarding HBPC provided by pharmacists.

Promotion of Smoking Cessation Using the Transtheoretical Model: Short-Term and Long-Term Effectiveness for Workers in Coastal Central Taiwan.

Background: Smoking cessation reduces the risk of severe illnesses in the long run and contributes to improving health. This study evaluated the short-term and long-term effectiveness of workplace smoking cessation intervention implemented using the transtheoretical model.

Methods: Participants were assessed at baseline before the intervention and after 6 months and 4 years of follow-ups.

Community Nurses' Preparations for and Challenges in Providing Palliative Home Care: A Qualitative Study.

Hospitals have played a leading role in providing palliative care in Taiwan as its care model has developed over the past few decades. However, earlier local studies in Taiwan showed that terminal patients prefer to die at home, highlighting the need to promote community-based palliative care instead of hospital-based care. Along with this shift, how community nurses provide palliative home care merits further exploration.

A Comparison of the Survival, Place of Death, and Medical Utilization of Terminal Patients Receiving Hospital-Based and Community-Based Palliative Home Care: A Retrospective and Propensity Score Matching Cohort Study.

Evidence shows that community-based palliative home care (PHC) provision enhances continuous care and improves patient outcomes. This study compared patient survival, place of death, and medical utilization in community- versus hospital-based PHC. A retrospective cohort study was conducted of patients aged over 18 referred to either community- or hospital-based PHC from May to December 2018 at a tertiary hospital and surrounding communities in Southern Taiwan.