Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Prognostication in Children.

Pediatric palliative care (PPC) is different from palliative care (PC) for adults. However, conceptualizing PPC remains cumbersome due to the high heterogeneity of often rare diseases, the high diversity of disease trajectories, and the particular difficulty to predict the future of an individual, severely ill child. This article aims to provide an overview and critical reflection of different aspects of prognostication in children with PC needs.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Prognostication in Critical Illness and Heart, Kidney, and Liver Diseases.

Specialty palliative care (PC) clinicians are frequently asked to discuss prognosis with patients and their families. When conveying information about prognosis, PC clinicians need also to discuss the likelihood of prolonged hospitalization, cognitive and functional disabilities, and death. As PC moves further and further upstream, it is crucial that PC providers have a broad understanding of curative and palliative treatments for serious diseases and can collaborate in prognostication with specialists.

Teaching geriatric medicine through gamification: a tool for enhancing postgraduate education in geriatric medicine.

Background: Polypharmacy is becoming increasingly common and all doctors must be prepared to manage it competently.

Aims: The aim of this project is to evaluate the feasibility and use of a novel gamification-based teaching intervention on polypharmacy among doctors undergoing advanced geriatric training. Among others, one of the learning goals for the students was to be able to describe the adherence to medication.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Prognostication in Oncology, Dementia, Frailty, and Pulmonary Diseases.

Prognostication has been described as "Medicine's Lost Art." Taken with diagnosis and treatment, prognostication is the third leg on which medical care rests. As research leads to additional beneficial treatments for vexing conditions like cancer, dementia, and lung disease, prognostication becomes even more difficult.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Trauma and Emergency Surgery.

There is growing interest in, and need for, integrating palliative care (PC) into the care of patients undergoing emergency surgery and those with traumatic injury. Thus, PC consults for these populations will likely grow in the coming years. Understanding the nuances and unique characteristics of these two acutely ill populations will improve the care that PC clinicians can provide.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Cognitive Impairment and Institutional Care.

Most long-term care (LTC) residents are of age >65 years and have multiple chronic health conditions affecting their cognitive and physical functioning. Although some individuals in nursing homes return home after receiving therapy services, most will remain in a LTC facility until their deaths. This article seeks to provide guidance on how to assess and effectively select treatment for delirium, behavioral and psychological symptoms for patients with dementia, and address other common challenges such as advanced care planning, decision-making capacity, and artificial hydration at the end of life.

Playing a musical instrument is associated with slower cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults.

Background: Elucidating behavioral protective factors for cognitive decline and dementia can have a far-reaching impact.

Aims: To describe the association of present and past musical instrument playing with cognitive function in cognitively intact older adults.

Method: A post hoc observational analysis of the Zurich Disability Prevention Trial.

Effect of Monthly High-Dose Vitamin D on Mental Health in Older Adults: Secondary Analysis of a RCT.

Objectives: To test the effect of monthly high-dose vitamin D supplementation on mental health in pre-frail older adults.

Design: Ancillary study of a 1-year double-blind randomized clinical trial conducted in Zurich, Switzerland.

Setting And Participants: A total of 200 community-dwelling adults 70 years and older with a prior fall event in the last year.

Effect of 800 IU Versus 2000 IU Vitamin D3 With or Without a Simple Home Exercise Program on Functional Recovery After Hip Fracture: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: To evaluate 2 simple strategies, vitamin D and a home exercise program, in functional recovery during the first year after hip fracture.

Design: Secondary analysis of a factorial clinical trial. Patients were randomly allocated to 800 IU (standard of care) or 2000 IU vitamin D and a daily instruction of a simple home exercise program (SHEP) or standard physiotherapy alone during acute care.