The Impact of a Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Program to Diagnose and Manage Ascites in Home-based Palliative Care.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the impact of a point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) program among people with ascites receiving home-based palliative care by measuring the association of POCUS with ascites-related days spent out of the home, compared with outcomes before POCUS implementation.

Design: Open cohort study.

Setting And Participants: Adults who had an ascites-related procedure (ARP) between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2015 (ie, pre-POCUS) and January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020 (ie, POCUS).

Collaborative Care in NSCLC; the Role of Early Palliative Care.

The management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has evolved into a multidisciplinary team approach that traditionally has involved medical oncology, radiation oncology, and thoracic surgery. However, in the era of personalized medicine the importance of molecular diagnostics requires adequate tissue for histologic subtyping and molecular testing and thus requires the engagement of other subspecialties such as pathology, respirology, and interventional radiology. Unfortunately in 2014, the majority of patients presenting with NSCLC will succumb to their disease and the early integration of palliative care into the treatment strategy will improve the quality of life and end-of-life care of our patients and may in fact improve their overall survival.