Provision of palliative care is suboptimal

Cancer patients, emergencies service and provision of palliative care.

OBJECTIVE To describe the clinical and sociodemographic profile of cancer patients admitted to the Emergency Center for High Complexity Oncologic Assistance, observing the coverage of palliative and home care. METHOD Cross sectional study including adult cancer patients admitted to the emergency service (September-December/2011) with a minimum length of hospital stay of two hours. Student's t...

What is the value of palliative care provision in low-resource settings?

Correspondence to Dr R Eleanor Anderson; [email protected] Palliative care is the active improvement in quality of life and relief of suffering for patients with incurable disease. Despite being recognised as a human right by the WHO, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 4 there are s...

Death's worsening taboo: is hampering the provision of high quality palliative care.

District nurses' role in palliative care provision: a realist review.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this review is to construct a detailed account of the role of the district nurse (generalist registered nurse providing nursing care in primarily home settings) in providing palliative care, to determine if and how district nursing care provides effective care to such patients at home, and to examine the utility of a realist review for the above purpose. DESIGN Realist r...

Palliative care provision for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of disability, morbidity and mortality in old age. Patients with advanced stage COPD are most likely to be admitted three to four times per year with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) which are costly to manage. The adverse events of AECOPD are associated with poor quality of life, severe physical disability, loneliness, and depre...