Empowering informal caregivers and nurses to take a person-centred view: adaptation and clinical utility of the Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale (IPOS-Dem) for use in acute and community care settings.

Background: Dementia is a progressive and terminal illness. Symptoms are present for people with dementia across all stages, leading to poor quality of life and considerable carer burden. In acute and community care services, no holistic, person-centred outcome tools are available for nurses and informal caregivers to measure symptoms and needs from the person`s with dementia point of view.

Development and pilot testing of a theory-driven and evidence-based advance care planning training programme for nurses in acute care settings.

Purpose: To develop and pilot-test a novel training programme for nurses in acute care settings to improve their decision-making support skills, knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in conducting advance care planning (ACP).

Methods: A single-group repeated measures design was employed. This study was conducted in two phases.

From supportive care to trauma: training integrative practitioners in the treatment of acute stress disorder.

Objective: The present conflict in Israel has led to a surge in cases of acute stress disorder (ASD). The study examined a training program for integrative medicine (IM) providers working in supportive and palliative care settings, teaching clinical skills for treating ASD.

Methods: A 10-h online training program, designed by supportive care trained IM and mental health professionals was attended by a group of 32 IM providers.

Case Presentation of Two Patients Compassionately Discharged, from Hospital to Home, Who Did Not Achieve Their Desired Home Death.

The objective of this case presentation is to identify factors that hinder home deaths after patients have been compassionately discharged from the hospital. It aims to shed light on modifiable factors that could facilitate a home death. Compassionate discharges differ from routine discharges as they are done to support the wishes of terminally ill patients to pass on at home.

Opportunities for Incorporation of Primary Palliative Care in Acute Care Surgery: A Narrative Review.

Background: Palliative care is highly relevant to acute care surgery due to the patient populations and severity of illness. Efforts to routinely incorporate palliative care principles in the practice of acute care surgery by the primary surgical team may benefit patients and their families.

Methods: We present a narrative review of the literature examining the current state of incorporation of primary palliative care in acute care surgery, including basic principles and strategies, evolving approaches, limitations, and opportunities for growth.

Mobile App-Facilitated Collaborative Palliative Care Intervention for Critically Ill Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Few person-centered, scalable models of collaborative intensive care unit (ICU) clinician-palliative care specialist care exist.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a collaborative palliative care intervention compared to usual care among family members of patients in the ICU.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This parallel-group randomized clinical trial with patient-level randomization was conducted between April 2021 and September 2023.

A Scoping Review of End-of-Life Discussions and Palliative Care: Implications for Neurological Intensive Care in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Palliative care (PC) is essential to improve quality of life for individuals with life-limiting acute neurological conditions, particularly in resource-limited settings. In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), there is limited health care professional training and education on PC. We reviewed the peer-reviewed literature discussing end-of-life care, withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments (WOLST), and PC in the acute inpatient setting.

[Areas of conflict in the caring of critically chronic ill children: an interpretative phenomenological study].

Areas of conflict in the caring of critically chronic ill children: an interpretative phenomenological study Critically chronic ill children are a growing population due to the medical improvement in pediatric intensive care units (PICU). PICU nurses find themselves navigating the complexities between acute and palliative care for these patients, facing various challenges. This study explored the nurse's experiences in caring for children with critically chronic illnesses in the PICU.

The use and impact of surveillance-based technology initiatives in inpatient and acute mental health settings: a systematic review.

Background: The use of surveillance technologies is becoming increasingly common in inpatient mental health settings, commonly justified as efforts to improve safety and cost-effectiveness. However, their use has been questioned in light of limited research conducted and the sensitivities, ethical concerns and potential harms of surveillance. This systematic review aims to (1) map how surveillance technologies have been employed in inpatient mental health settings, (2) explore how they are experienced by patients, staff and carers and (3) examine evidence regarding their impact.

Hematologists' perspective on advance directives, a French national cross-sectional survey - the ADORE-H study.

Background: The onset of hematological malignancies can lead to acute and critical situations. It can also result in adverse outcome despite the significant advancements made in their therapeutic management. In this context, advance care planning and, in particular, advance directives (AD) play an essential role.

Healthcare utilisation of 282,080 individuals with long COVID over two years: a multiple matched control, longitudinal cohort analysis.

Objectives: To investigate healthcare utilisation and cost in individuals with long COVID (LC) at population level.

Design: Case-control cohort analysis with multiple age-, sex-, ethnicity-, deprivation-, region- and comorbidity-matched control groups: (1) COVID only, no LC; (2) pre-pandemic; (3) contemporary non-COVID; and (4) pre-LC (self-controlled, pre-COVID pandemic).

Setting: National, population-based, linked UK electronic health records (British Heart Foundation/NHS England Secure Data Environment).

Making Community-Based Palliative Care Eligibility Determinations: Palliative Care Team Member Perspectives on Access to Information and Algorithm Use.

Background: Seriously ill older adults have high risk of mortality, symptom burden, and compromised functional status, and may benefit from community-based palliative care ("palliative care"). However, identifying potentially eligible individuals is challenging.

Objectives: Identify how a palliative care team makes eligibility determinations, including the use of a mortality risk algorithm.

Gynaecologic oncology referrals to specialist palliative care in a tertiary referral centre: population, characteristics and outcomes.

Background: The early integration of a specialist palliative care team is demonstrated to have numerous benefits for patients. These extend beyond end-of-life care to include reducing depressive symptoms, improving quality of life and reducing unnecessary interventions.

Aims: This study aims to characterise the patient population referred to the specialist palliative care service with a diagnosis of gynaecological cancer.

Results of a Feasibility Pilot Pragmatic Trial Implementing Palliative Care in Skilled Nursing Facilities.

Seriously ill older adults are admitted for post-acute care in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) for curative, rehabilitative treatments, yet experience high rates of re-hospitalization, and death. The primary palliative care in post-acute care (PPC-PAC) intervention is an evidence-based approach designed to help people with serious illness align treatment plans with goals of care, optimize quality of life, and improve satisfaction with their care. To conduct a preliminary study and evaluate the feasibility of implementing the PPC-PAC intervention in the post-acute care SNF setting.

How the COVID-19 pandemic shaped Canadians' preferences for setting of dying: Comparison of two panel surveys.

The purpose of this article is to assess whether COVID-19 shaped Canadians' preferred settings of dying. We compared data collected using the same survey from two independent but comparable sets of panel respondents, prior to and after the onset of the pandemic. A vignette methodology was used to assess preferences for dying in each of four settings: home, acute/intensive care, palliative care, and long-term residential care.

A Qualitative Exploration of Healthcare Workers' Experiences of End of Life Care for People With an Intellectual Disability.

Aim: To explore healthcare workers' experiences of end of life care for people with an intellectual disability.

Design: A descriptive qualitative study.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 healthcare workers who cared for older people with an intellectual disability at their end of life.

Exploring Overt Racial and Ethnic Conflict in Resident-to-Resident Aggression in Long-Term Care Facilities.

Objectives: Resident-to-resident aggression (RRA) in long-term care facilities is gaining recognition as a serious problem. Racial/ethnic conflict may be a contributing factor to RRA incidents, but it remains insufficiently studied. Our goal was to explore overt racial/ethnic conflict in RRA.

Health care utilization at the end of life in Parkinson's disease: a population-based register study.

Background: Knowledge of health care utilization at the end of life in Parkinson's disease (PD) is sparse. This study aims to investigate end of life health care utilization, characterized by emergency room (ER) visits, receipt of specialized palliative care (SPC), and acute hospital deaths in a Swedish population-based PD cohort.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on deceased patients (≥ 18 years) with a PD diagnosis during their last year of life (n = 922), based on health care-provider data from Region Stockholm´s data warehouse, for the study period 2015-2021.

Improving the assessment of cultural, religious and spiritual needs for patients at the end-of-life within an acute hospital trust.

Background: Cultural, religious and spiritual (CRS) needs become increasingly important to individuals as they approach the end of life. CRS needs often remain unmet for patients dying in an acute hospital setting. The 'Just Ask' quality improvement project was designed to explore barriers to routine assessment of CRS needs, and to design resources and intervention to support staff to increase assessment of these needs.

Delayed Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment in Disorders of Consciousness: Practical and Theoretical Considerations.

Disorders of consciousness (DoC) resulting from severe acute brain injuries may prompt clinicians and surrogate decision makers to consider withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (WLST) if the neurologic prognosis is poor. Recent guidelines suggest, however, that clinicians should avoid definitively concluding a poor prognosis prior to 28 days post injury, as patients may demonstrate neurologic recovery outside the acute time period. This practice may increase the frequency with which clinicians consider the option of delayed WLST (D-WLST), namely, WLST that would occur after hospital discharge, if the patient's recovery trajectory ultimately proves inconsistent with an acceptable quality of life.