Primary Care Residents Improve Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, and Practice After a Clinical Curriculum With a Hospice.

Effective approaches to teaching attitudes, knowledge, and skills to resident physicians in primary care that can be implemented in any residency program are needed. We examined the feasibility and impact of a single palliative care residency curriculum, including a clinical rotation with a hospice program, across 5 cohorts of residents in 7 divergent primary care residency programs (both family medicine and internal medicine). The didactic content was drawn from the national Education for Physicians on End-of-Life Care Project.

Ketamine for the treatment of depression in patients receiving hospice care: a retrospective medical record review of thirty-one cases.

Background: Depression is prevalent in patients receiving hospice care. Standard antidepressant medications do not work rapidly enough in this setting. Evidence suggests that ketamine rapidly treats treatment refractory depression in the general population.

A five-year review of referrals for perinatal palliative care.

Background: San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine created one of the earliest perinatal palliative care programs in the country. Only four studies have reported outcomes for pregnant women referred to perinatal palliative care services for potentially lethal prenatal diagnoses.

Objectives: To learn: (1) who is referred for perinatal palliative care at San Diego Hospice; (2) what happens after referral to perinatal palliative care; and (3) what happens after delivery for this population.

The impact of additional support services on caregivers of hospice patients and hospice social workers.

Family caregivers often suffer higher levels of physical and emotional distress when caring for a chronically or terminally ill family member. Providing this kind of care to a loved one at the end of life contributes to increased stress, health problems, and a decreased quality of life. The Hospice Caregiver Support Project provided support services to caregivers identified by the hospice social worker as needing this support and/or assistance.

Daily oral ketamine for the treatment of depression and anxiety in patients receiving hospice care: a 28-day open-label proof-of-concept trial.

Background: Depression and anxiety are prevalent and undertreated in patients receiving hospice care. Standard antidepressants do not work rapidly or often enough to benefit most of these patients. Ketamine has many properties that make it an interesting candidate for rapidly treating depression and anxiety in patients receiving hospice care.