Development and Assessment of a Basic Palliative Care Training Course in Uganda.

Palliative care (PC) is essential for improving the quality of life for individuals with serious illnesses, yet access to PC services remains limited, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to assess the impact of a one-day PC training initiative for health care professionals in Uganda. Participants' pre- and post-course self-assessments, qualitative feedback, and satisfaction surveys were analyzed.

The Hierarchy of Communication Needs: A Novel Communication Strategy for High Mistrust Settings Developed in a Brazilian COVID-ICU.

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges for health care systems. Overcrowded units, extreme illness severity, uncertain prognoses, and mistrust in providers resulted in a "pressure cooker" where traditional communication strategies were often insufficient.

Objectives: Building on well-studied traditional communication interventions, neurobiology principles were used to create a novel communication strategy designed in the COVID-ICU to respond to the unique communication needs of patients within the context of a high mistrust setting.

The development of an advanced diploma program for palliative care leaders in Chile.

Context: The majority of people with serious health-related suffering in low- and middle-income countries lack access to palliative care (PC). Increased access to PC education is greatly needed.

Objectives: This paper describes the process to adapt an advanced PC training course for a Chilean context.

Eliciting Exploratory Patient Preference Data: A Case Study in a Rare Disease.

Introduction: Qualitative and quantitative methods provide different and complementary insights into patients' preferences for treatment.

Objective: The aim of this study was to use a novel, mixed-methods approach employing qualitative and quantitative approaches to generate preliminary insights into patient preferences for the treatment of a rare disease-generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG).

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study to collect exploratory qualitative and quantitative patient preference information and generate informative results within a condensed timeline (about 4 months).

Adaptation and psychometric testing of the end-of-life professional caregiver survey in Jamaica.

Background: Using a validated instrument to measure palliative care (PC) educational needs of health professionals is an important step in understanding how best to educate a well-versed PC workforce within a national health system. The End-of-life Professional Caregiver Survey (EPCS) was developed to measure U.S.

Creating a Dedicated Palliative Care Team for ICU Spanish Speaking Patients in Response to COVID-19.

Context: The Latinx population faced higher rates of infection and severe illness during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an increased need for palliative care services.

Objectives: We describe the creation and impact of a formal palliative care initiative developed for seriously ill, Spanish-speaking patients during the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary care academic medical center.

Methods: Patients were enrolled in the Spanish Palliative Care Initiative during a two-month period starting in April 2020.

Developing a novel integrated geriatric palliative care consultation program for the emergency department.

With the aging of our population, older adults are living longer with multiple chronic conditions, frailty, and life-limiting illnesses, which creates specific challenges for emergency departments (EDs). Older adults and those with serious illnesses have high rates of ED use and hospitalization, and the emergency care they receive may be discordant with their goals and values. In response, new models of care delivery have begun to emerge to address both geriatric and palliative care needs in the ED.

Furthering Palliative Care Training in Latin America: Development and Assessment of an Advanced Diploma Course in Palliative Care in Chile.

Context: The vast majority of people with serious health-related suffering in low- and middle-income countries lack access to palliative care (PC). In Latin America, this shortage is critical, and PC education is greatly needed.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the effects of an advanced PC diploma course in Chile through assessment of participants' satisfaction, knowledge, behavior, and self-efficacy.

Project ECHO in the Caribbean: Building a Virtual Community for Palliative Care Education Needs.

Despite a growing need, palliative care education tools tailored to providers in the Caribbean remain extremely limited. We conducted a mixed methods analysis of the first Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) model adapted for palliative care providers in the Caribbean. These virtual, case-based sessions were held to enhance regional palliative care providers' knowledge of symptom management, communication, and psychosocial support.

Utilizing the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to Explore Palliative Care Program Implementation for American Indian and Alaska Natives throughout the United States.

A significant shortage of palliative care (PC) services exists for American Indian and Alaska Native people (AI/ANs) across the United States. Using an implementation science framework, we interviewed key individuals associated with AI/AN-focused PC programs to explore what is needed to develop and sustain such programs. To identify facilitators of implementation and barriers to sustainability associated with the development of PC programs designed for AI/ANs across the United States.

Analyzing the Unique Needs of International Palliative Care Learners Attending a United States-Based Palliative Care Education and Practice Course.

Many seriously ill patients in need of palliative care (PC) globally never receive it, partly due to a lack of well-trained providers. We analyzed feedback from international participants in a U.S.

Best Practices for Teaching Clinicians to Use a Serious Illness Conversation Guide.

With the palliative care workforce shortage and changes in advance care planning reimbursement, many institutions are requesting that palliative care specialists provide serious illness communication training across their institution's workforce. Based on our experience training clinicians to use the Partners Serious Illness Conversation Guide, a structured guide to teach basic palliative care communication skills, we propose a set of best practices to help others teach use of a communication guide at their institution, including fostering a safe learning environment, explicit teaching of structured communication, and preparing cofacilitators to adapt to differing skill levels of learners.

Implementing Palliative Care Training in the Caribbean: Development and Assessment of a Basic Palliative Care Training Course in Jamaica.

Context: The majority of people in need of palliative care (PC) in low- and middle-income countries lack access to it and suffer unnecessarily as a consequence. This unmet need is due, in part, to the lack of trained PC providers.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the effects of regional training in PC for doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in the Caribbean through assessment of participant satisfaction, anticipated course impact on participants' clinical practice, barriers to changing practice, and perceived course impact on achievement of key PC milestones.

Palliative Medicine Specialization in Latin America: A Comparative Analysis.

Background: Formal recognition of palliative medicine as a specialty has been one of the main drivers in the development of palliative care.

Aim: To provide a comparative, comprehensive overview on the status of palliative medicine as medical specialty across Latin America.

Methods: We conducted a comparative study of 19 Latin American countries.

The Experience of Emergency Department Providers With Embedded Palliative Care During COVID.

Context: Although the importance of palliative care (PC) integration in the emergency department (ED) has long been recognized, few formalized programs have been reported, and none have evaluated the experience of ED clinicians with embedded PC.

Objectives: We evaluate the experience of ED clinicians with embedded PC in the ED during the coronavirus disease pandemic.

Methods: ED clinicians completed a survey about their perceptions of embedded PC in the ED.

Global Palliative Care Education in the Time of COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the need for health care providers skilled in rapid and flexible decision making, effective and anticipatory leadership, and in dealing with trauma and moral distress. Palliative care (PC) workers have been an essential part of the COVID-19 response in advising on goals of care, symptom management and difficult decision making, and in supporting distressed health care workers, patients, and families. We describe Global Palliative Education Collaborative (GPEC), a training partnership between Harvard, University of California San Francisco, and Tulane medical schools in the U.

The central role of provider training in implementing resource-stratified guidelines for palliative care in low-income and middle-income countries: Lessons from the Jamaica Cancer Care and Research Institute in the Caribbean and Universidad Católica in Latin America.

Individuals in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) account for approximately two-thirds of cancer deaths worldwide, and the vast majority of these deaths occur without access to essential palliative care (PC). Although resource-stratified guidelines are being developed that take into account the actual resources available within a given country, and several components of PC are available within health care systems, PC will never improve without a trained workforce. The design and implementation of PC provider training programs is the lynchpin for ensuring that all seriously ill patients have access to quality PC services.

Novel - and - fusions in pediatric leukemia with normal karyotype.

Background: Many cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) carry visible acquired chromosomal changes of pathogenetic, diagnostic, and prognostic importance. Nevertheless, from one-fourth to half of newly diagnosed ALL patients have no visible chromosomal changes detectable by G-banding analysis at diagnosis. The introduction of powerful molecular methodologies has shown that many karyotypically normal ALLs carry clinically important submicroscopic aberrations.

Efficacy and safety of PICOPREP tailored dosing compared with PICOPREP day-before dosing for colon cleansing: a multi-centric randomised study.

 The success of any colonoscopy procedure depends upon the quality of bowel preparation. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of a new tailored dosing (TD) regimen compared with the approved PICOPREP day-before dosing regimen (DBD) in the European Union.  Patients (≥ 18 years) undergoing colonoscopy were randomised (2:1) to TD (Dose 1, 10 - 18 hours; Dose 2, 4 - 6 hours before colonoscopy) or DBD (Dose 1 before 8:00AM on the day before colonoscopy; Dose 2, 6 - 8 hours after Dose 1).

Anti-Drug Antibodies, Drug Levels, Interleukin-6 and Soluble TNF Receptors in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients during the First 6 Months of Treatment with Adalimumab or Infliximab: A Descriptive Cohort Study.

Objectives: With the present study we wanted to explore the impact of treatment with a tumor necrosis factor-α -inhibitor (TNFi) on levels of soluble biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to identify predictors of impaired drug levels and development of anti-TNFi antibodies (anti-TNFi Abs).

Methods: Blood samples from 26 patients with established RA were taken at baseline and following 6 months of treatment with adalimumab or infliximab. Samples were analyzed for levels of TNFi, interleukin (IL)-6, and soluble TNF-receptors 1 and -2 (sTNF-R1 and -2) and for presence of anti-TNFi Abs.

A Countercultural Heritage: Rediscovering the Relationship-Centered and Social Justice Roots of Family Medicine-A Perspective from the Keystone IV Conference.

The 2015 G. Gayle Stephens Keystone conference convened a cohort of primary care professionals to discuss what promises personal physicians will make to their patients going forward. New physicians were prompted to rediscover the foundational values of and historic context for family medicine.