Aims And Objectives: To report on the effectiveness of an eight-week palliative care programme in Hong Kong.
Background: A recent survey reported that the quality of palliative care services in Hong Kong ranked the 20th among 40 countries and it is far behind other Asian countries. There are disagreement and inadequate communication in clinical decision-making among patients, families and healthcare professionals, and that the nurses lack sufficient knowledge and skills in providing palliative care and advance care planning.
Design: A pretest post-test design and semi-structured interviews were adopted.
Methods: A total of 108 home care patients with life-limiting disease and their family caregivers in Hong Kong were recruited to complete a set of questionnaire including The McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire for Hong Kong Chinese and the Family Satisfaction Scale before and after they attended an eight-week programme. The programme comprised the elements of symptom management, intensive communication on advance care planning and psychosocial intervention.
Results: Pearson's chi-square tests and Wilcoxon matched paired tests show a general trend that the patients' quality of life was improved after the programme. Their understanding and active participation in advance care planning was also improved. The hospital readmission rate and the days of hospital stays were significantly reduced. In qualitative interview, four major themes were identified that are as follows: improvement in the communication of treatment plans and after-death arrangements, symptom management, emotional support and suggested areas of improvement.
Conclusion: The study supports the benefit of implementing a palliative care programme to patients with life-limiting disease. Patients demonstrated improved understanding and changed behaviour as regards the preparation for death and dying after the eight-week programme.
Relevance To Clinical Practice: The programme could be replicated in other hospitals and infirmaries that offer home care services.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12094 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Multidisciplinary team meetings: dynamic routines that (re)make palliative care.
Health Sociol Rev
December 2024
Department of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Multidisciplinary team meetings are part of the everyday working life of palliative care staff. Based on ethnographic material from community and hospital palliative care teams in England, this article examines these meetings as dynamic routines. Although intended to have a prescribed format to review deaths and collect standardised information to monitor service performance, in practice, the content and conduct of the meetings were fluid, reflecting how this structure did not always match the concerns held by the team.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOn TRacK With Larotrectinib in a Neonate With a Giant Congenital ETV6::NTRK3 Fusion-Positive Infantile Fibrosarcoma of the Head and Neck.
Head Neck
December 2024
Department of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology, Klinik für Kinder- Und Jugendmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
Background: Infantile fibrosarcoma (IFS) is a rare pediatric tumor of intermediate malignancy with high local aggressiveness that typically presents in young infants. Its occurrence in the head and neck region is rare. Complete non-mutilating surgical resection is often not possible, requiring multimodal treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalciphylaxis: A Case Report and Review of the Role of Sodium Thiosulphate and Other Treatment Modalities.
Cureus
November 2024
Nephrology, Colchester Hospital, Colchester, GBR.
Calciphylaxis is a rare and serious disorder almost exclusively seen in patients on dialysis or those with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) not on dialysis and is associated with very high mortality. We present the case of a 50-year-old male with a background of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) compliant with dialysis, parathyroid adenoma, secondary hyperparathyroidism, and high body mass index (BMI). Whilst receiving 31 doses of intravenous sodium thiosulphate (STS) over an 11-week period, the patient underwent surgical debridement of multiple painful ulcerative lesions in his lower abdomen and left thigh and then subsequently a subtotal parathyroidectomy at 70 days from admission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeveloping a novel transitional care model for older emergency department patients and exploring the target population in Taiwan.
Front Med (Lausanne)
December 2024
Department of Emergency Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
Aim: Transitional care in the emergency department (ED) has the potential to improve outcomes for older patients, but the specific population benefits from it and impact in Taiwan remain unclear. Therefore, we conducted this study.
Methods: An interdisciplinary team comprising emergency physicians, dedicated transitional care nurse (TCN), nurse practitioners, nurses, geriatricians, and social workers was established at a tertiary medical center.
Correlates of neurocognitive performance in older adults with chronic pain and negative emotions: baseline data from the problem adaptation therapy for pain (PATH-pain) randomized controlled trial.
Front Pain Res (Lausanne)
December 2024
Department of Psychiatry, Weill-Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, White Plains, NY, United States.
Chronic pain is highly prevalent among older adults, is associated with cognitive deficits, and is commonly treated in primary care. We sought to document the extent of impairment across specific neurocognitive domains and its correlates among older adults with chronic pain in primary care. We analyzed baseline data from the Problem Adaptation Therapy for Pain trial, which examined a psychosocial intervention to improve emotion regulation in 100 adults ≥ 60 years with comorbid chronic pain and negative emotions, who did not have evidence of moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!