Palliative care in policy documents for adults with cancer and non-cancer diseases with potential palliative care needs: a document analysis.

Background: The inclusion of palliative care in policy has been encouraged internationally, and gradually implemented, including in Sweden. Care should be driven by policy; hence, examining how palliative care is included in national policy documents is paramount.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine how palliative care is included in national disease-specific policy documents for adults with chronic conditions, cancer and non-cancer, with potential palliative care needs.

Registry study of cardiovascular death in Sweden 2013-2019: Home as place of death and specialized palliative care are the preserve of a minority.

Background: Palliative care needs in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are expected to increase. For the planning of equitable palliative care, it is important to understand where people with CVD die. The aim was to examine trends in place of death, associated factors including utilization of specialized palliative services, and to what extent longitudinal development is influenced by national policy.

Children with palliative care needs - the landscape of the nordic countries.

Background: To strengthen palliative care for children in the Nordic countries, an updated status of current needs, resources, clinical services, education, and research is necessary to align and consolidate future research. A Nordic research collaboration initiative for children with palliative care needs was assembled in 2023. Building on this initiative, this paper presents an overview of pediatric palliative care (PPC) in the Nordic countries' (a) population characteristics, (b) care models and setting of care, (c) education and training, and (d) research.

Trends in the place of death in Sweden from 2013 to 2019 - disclosing prerequisites for palliative care.

Background: The drive for home care has increasingly impacted the organization and allocation of resources within the Swedish healthcare system.

Objectives: With an interest in uncovering prerequisites for palliative care, this study aimed to investigate longitudinal trends in place of death within the adult Swedish population from 2013 to 2019 and examine potential associations between place of death and individual, geographic, and socioeconomic factors; hospital capacity; and healthcare utilization.

Methods: This population-level comprehensive register study included all deceased individuals ⩾18 years old with a registered place of death ( = 599,137).

Nurse assistants' experiences of encountering patients in grief due to the death of a loved one - a qualitative study in municipal health and social care.

Purpose: The aim was to explore nurse assistants´ experiences of paying attention to and encountering patients receiving municipal health and social care, who are in grief due to the death of a loved one.

Methods: A qualitative study with focus group interviews ( = 6) was conducted with nurse assistants (NAs) ( = 28) in municipal health and social care ( = 5) in southern Sweden. The data were analysed inductively using qualitative content analysis.

The influence of "bad news" and "neutral/good news" on patients' perception of physician empathy during oncology consultations.

Objectives: Being met with empathy increases information sharing, treatment coherence, and helps patients to recover faster. However, we do not know how the content of the conversation about disease progression, new treatments, or other issues concerning serious illness affects patients' perceptions of the physician's empathy, and thus, the quality of the conversation. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that patients will rate their physician lower following a "bad news" consultation using the consultation and relational empathy (CARE) measure.

Persistent pain and its predictors after starting anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy in psoriatic arthritis: what is the role of inflammation control?

Objective: While considerable focus has been placed on pain due to inflammation in psoriatic arthritis (PsA), less is reported on pain despite inflammation control. Here, we aimed to investigate the occurrence/predictors of persistent pain, including non-inflammatory components, after starting anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy.

Method: Bionaïve PsA patients starting a first anti-TNF therapy 2004-2010 were identified (South Swedish Arthritis Treatment Group register; N = 351).

Physicians' Lived Experience of Breaking Bad News in Clinical Practice: Five Essentials of a Relational Process.

The purpose of this study was to develop deeper knowledge about physicians' lived experiences of breaking bad news by identifying their common meanings and interrelatedness along with their potential alignment with process-oriented and relational aspects. Based on the methodology of descriptive phenomenology, in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 physicians from a wide variety of specialties. The participants were invited to freely reflect upon their experiences of breaking bad news by describing situations that had worked well and less well.

Family cohesion predicts long-term health and well-being after losing a parent to cancer as a teenager: A nationwide population-based study.

Background: Parentally bereaved children are at increased risk of negative consequences, and the mediating factors most consistently identified are found to be related to family function after the loss, including cohesion. However, existing evidence is limited, especially with respect to children and youths' own perception of family cohesion and its long-term effects on health and well-being. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate self-reported family cohesion the first year after the loss of a parent to cancer and its association to long-term psychological health and well-being among young adults that were bereaved during their teenage years.

Perspectives on existential loneliness. Narrations by older people in different care contexts.

The aim was to explore existential loneliness in different long-term care contexts as narrated by older people. A qualitative secondary analysis was performed of 22 interviews with older people in residential care, home care, and specialized palliative care. The analysis started with naive reading of interviews from each care context.

Updating international consensus on best practice in care of the dying: A Delphi study.

Background: Good care of the dying has been defined as being able to die in the place of your choice, free from pain, cared for with dignity and supported by the best possible care. This definition underpinned the development of the '10/40 Model' of care for the dying, in 2013. The model includes 10 'Key Principles' that underpin 40 'Core Outcomes' of care.

Patterns of Communication About Serious Illness in the Years, Months, and Days before Death.

Background: Communication with patients and families about serious illness impacts quality of life and helps facilitate decision-making.

Objective: To elucidate the pattern of communication about serious illness for patients who have died in an inpatient setting.

Design: Three hundred patients from the Swedish Registry of Palliative Care 2015-2017 were randomly selected for manual chart review.

Sedation in specialized palliative care: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Palliative sedation is used to relieve refractory symptoms and is part of clinical practice in Sweden. Yet we do not know how frequently this practice occurs, how decision-making takes place, or even which medications are preferentially used.

Objectives: To understand the current practice of palliative sedation in Sweden.

A "snap-shot" visual estimation of health and objectively measured frailty: capturing general health in aging older women.

Background: In clinic, a subjective visual estimation of a patient's general health often guides interventions, yet little is known of how this assessment relates to objectively measured frailty.

Aims: To characterize the relationship between these two assessments and explore the implication of discordance.

Methods: The study was performed in the OPRA cohort of 75-year old community-dwelling women (n = 1044).

Similarities and differences between China and Sweden regarding the core features of palliative care for people aged 60 or older: a systematic scoping review.

Background: Despite the increasing longevity of the world's population, with an unprecedented rise in the number of people who need palliative care (PC), there has been sparse research regarding palliative care for older people, especially when it comes to comparison of PC between healthcare systems and cultures. The aim of this systematic scoping review was to identify the characteristics of the body of literature and to examine the knowledge gaps concerning PC research for older people (> 60 years) in two healthcare systems and cultures, mainland China and Sweden.

Methods: The guidelines PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews), and PICOS (Patient/population, Intervention, Comparison/control, and Outcome) were used.

A novel care guide for personalised palliative care - a national initiative for improved quality of care.

Background: Even when palliative care is an integrated part of the healthcare system, the quality is still substandard for many patients and often initiated too late. There is a lack of structured guidelines for identifying and caring for patients; in particular for those with early palliative care needs. A care guide can act as a compass for best practice and support the care of patients throughout their palliative trajectory.

Documentation of older people's end-of-life care in the context of specialised palliative care: a retrospective review of patient records.

Background: Palliative care focuses on identifying, from a holistic perspective, the needs of those experiencing problems associated with life-threatening illnesses. As older people approach the end of their lives, they can experience a complex series of problems that health-care professionals must identify and document in their patients' records. Documentation is thus important for ensuring high-quality patient care.

End-of-life discussions in residential care homes improves symptom control: a national register study.

Background: In Europe, residential care homes (RCHs) rather than hospitals are the most common care facilities for the older adult and the place where most deaths occur in this age group. There is a lack of knowledge regarding end-of-life (EOL) discussions and how they correlate with symptoms and symptom relief.

Objective: The aim was to examine the correlation between EOL discussions and symptom occurrence, symptom relief and prescriptions or PRN drugs against symptoms for care home residents.