How palliative care professionals deal with predicting life expectancy at the end of life: predictors and accuracy.

Purpose: To assess the accuracy of hospice staff in predicting survival of subjects admitted to hospice, exploring the factors considered most helpful by the hospice staff to accurately predict survival.

Methods: Five physicians and 11 nurses were asked to predict survival at admission of 827 patients. Actual and predicted survival times were divided into ≤ 1 week, 2-3 weeks, 4-8 weeks, and ≥ 2 months and the accuracy of the estimates was calculated.

Quality of Life, Pain Perception, and Distress Correlated to Ultrasound-Guided Peripherally Inserted Central Venous Catheters in Palliative Care Patients in a Home or Hospice Setting.

Context: Intravenous fluid administration with peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICCs) and midline catheters in palliative care.

Objectives: To evaluate distress and pain perceived by patients during the positioning of a PICC or midline catheter, both in the home and hospice settings.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study performed by the Palliative Care Network of Pordenone.