New UK palliative medicine consultants: clinical and non-clinical preparedness after higher specialty training.

Objectives: Higher specialty trainees are expected to achieve clinical and non-clinical skills during training in preparation for a consultant role. However, evidence from many specialties from different countries suggests that new consultants are less prepared in non-clinical skills. The transition from trainee to a consultant phase can be challenging.

Conference presentation in palliative medicine: predictors of subsequent publication.

Objectives: Concerns have been raised about poor-quality palliative care research and low publication rate from conference abstracts. The study objectives: to estimate the publication rate for European Association for Palliative Care research conference abstracts (2008) and explore associated characteristics and to understand reasons for non-publication.

Methods: Full published papers were searched to March 2015 (Medline; Pubmed; Google Scholar) and data extracted: country of origin, study design/population/topic.

Analgesic prescribing in palliative care.

Pain management requires a multimodal approach involving pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies. It is important to take a detailed history and examine the patient before prescribing any analgesia. This article focuses on assessment and management of pain in palliative care patients.

Systematic literature review: xerostomia in advanced cancer patients.

Purpose: Dry mouth (xerostomia) is one of the commonest symptoms in cancer patients and can adversely affect quality of life. The aim of this review was to determine the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions in treating xerostomia in adult advanced cancer patients.

Methods: The literature search was performed in February 2014 using databases including EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, BNI and Cochrane library.