Erratum to “Systematic versus on-demand early palliative care: A randomised clinical trial assessing quality of care and treatment aggressiveness near the end of life” [Eur J Cancer 69 (2016) 110–118]

BackgroundPalliative care strives to improve quality of life for patients with incurable diseases. This approach includes adequate support of the patients’ loved ones. Consequently, loved ones have personal experiences of providing end-of-life care for their next. This is a resource for information and may help to investigate the loved ones’ perspectives on need for improvements.AimTo identify further quality aspects considered important by loved ones to improve the quality of care at the end of life as an addition to quantitative results from the Care of the Dying Evaluation for the German-speaking area (CODE-GER) questionnaire.DesignWithin the validation study of the questionnaire ‘Care of the Dying Evaluation’ (CODETM) GER, loved ones were asked to comment (free text) in parallel on each item of the CODE-GER. These free-text notes were analysed with the qualitative content analysis method by Philipp Mayring.Setting/participantsLoved ones of patients (n=237), who had died an expected death in two university hospitals (palliative and non-palliative care units) during the period from April 2016 to March 2017.Results993 relevant paragraphs were extracted out of 1261 free-text notes. For loved ones, important aspects of quality of care are information/communication, respect of the patient’s and/or loved one’s will, involvement in decision-making at the end of life (patient’s volition) and having the possibility to say goodbye.ConclusionsIt is important for loved ones to be taken seriously in their sorrows, to be informed, that the caregivers respect the patients’ will and to be emotionally supported.Trial registration numberThis study was registered at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00013916).

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Chemotherapy use at the end of life in Brazil.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2021.39.15_suppl.e24003 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e24003-e24003

Author(s):

Munir Murad Junior ◽

Thiago Henrique Mascarenhas Nébias ◽

Marcos Antonio da Cunha Santos ◽

Mariangela Cherchiglia

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Cancer Treatment ◽

End Of Life ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Stage Iv ◽

Breast Cancers ◽

Early Palliative Care ◽

Study Population ◽

One Year

e24003 Background: Chemotherapy in the last days of life is not associated with a survival benefit, and recent data suggest it may cause harm by decreasing quality of life and increasing costs. Both ESMO and ASCO have published position statements encouraging discussions about the appropriate cessation of chemotherapy. End-of-life chemotherapy rates vary worldwide but in summary, up to a fifth of cancer patients are treated with chemotherapy in the last month of life with no clear benefits. The aim of this study is to describe the rate of chemotherapy use in the last month of life in patients who are candidates for palliative care in Brazil. Methods: It is a prospective non-concurrent cohort carried out from a database developed through probabilistic and deterministic linkage of data from information systems of the Brazilian Public Health System. The study population is composed of all patients who started cancer treatment between 2009 and 2014 and who was hospitalized at least 1 time after starting treatment. To address the indication for palliative care, patients whose death occurred within one year after the first hospitalization were selected. Results: A total of 299,202 patients started cancer treatment in that period and 62,249 died 1year after hospitalization. Among the deceased patients, the median age was 62 years, 50.9% of them were in stage IV and 34.1% in stage III and 46% lived in the southeastern region of the country. The most common cancers were lung (n = 17805; 28.6%) colorectal (n = 12273; 19.7%) and gastric (n = 10248; 16.5%). The average number of hospitalizations was 2.7 and 89% of these patients required emergency hospitalization. About half (45,4%; n=28,250) of the patients underwent chemotherapy at the last 30 days of life. The rates of use of chemotherapy in the last month was 44% for lung cancer, 74,4% for colon, 50.2% for gastric and 51.8% breast cancers. Conclusions: Despite international recommendations on the use of chemotherapy at the end of life, this seems to be a common practice unfortunately. Measures to implement early palliative care should be a priority for the care of cancer patients in Brazil.

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The effects of animal-assisted interactions on quality of life in children with life-threatening conditions and their parents

International Journal of Palliative Nursing ◽

10.12968/ijpn.2021.27.10.524 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 (10) ◽

pp. 524-530

Author(s):

Haley Walker ◽

Mary Chapman Miller ◽

Brittany Cowfer ◽

Terrah Akard ◽

Mary Jo Gilmer

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Clinical Trial ◽

Palliative Care ◽

Primary Caregivers ◽

Randomised Clinical Trial ◽

Severe Stress ◽

Quality Of Life Research ◽

Threatening Condition ◽

Life Threatening

Background: Children with advanced cancer and their primary caregivers may experience severe stress and anxiety in coping with their life-threatening condition. As a way to help reduce these stressors and increase overall quality of life, research suggests that animal-assisted interactions may be beneficial when integrated into palliative care. Aims: This pilot study aims to provide evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of a randomised clinical trial using animal-assisted interactions to help improve the quality of life for children with an advanced life-threatening condition and their primary caregivers. This protocol paper outlines the basis of the research, goals, experimental design and methodology.

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Early palliative care is associated with improved quality of end-of-life care for women with high risk gynecologic malignancies

Gynecologic Oncology ◽

10.1016/j.ygyno.2017.03.074 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 145 ◽

pp. 26

Author(s):

N.S. Nevadunsky ◽

C. Zanartu ◽

P. Pinto ◽

R. Barrera ◽

A.R. Van Arsdale ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

High Risk ◽

End Of Life ◽

End Of Life Care ◽

Life Care ◽

Gynecologic Malignancies ◽

Early Palliative Care

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Effect of early palliative care (PC) on quality of life (QOL), aggressive care at the end-of-life (EOL), and survival in stage IV NSCLC patients: Results of a phase III randomized trial.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2010.28.15_suppl.7509 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 28 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. 7509-7509 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

J. S. Temel ◽

J. Greer ◽

E. Gallagher ◽

S. Admane ◽

W. F. Pirl ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Palliative Care ◽

Randomized Trial ◽

End Of Life ◽

Stage Iv ◽

Phase Iii ◽

Early Palliative Care ◽

Aggressive Care ◽

Nsclc Patients

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Patients' participation in end-of-life care: Relations to different variables as documented in the patients' records

Palliative & Supportive Care ◽

10.1017/s1478951510000441 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 247-253 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Irma Lindström ◽

Fannie Gaston-Johansson ◽

Ella Danielson

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Care ◽

End Of Life ◽

Cognitive Dysfunction ◽

End Of Life Care ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Life Care ◽

High Quality ◽

Care And Treatment

AbstractObjective:Patients' participation in care is crucial for assuring patients a high quality of care based on values such as autonomy. The patients are supposed to be actively involved in care and treatment, even though these situations are complex, as in the context of end-of-life-care. The aim in this study was to identify demographic and health-related variables‘ relation to patients’ participation during the last three months in life as documented in patients' records.Method:The population in the present study consists of 229 patients from 49 municipalities in a county in Sweden. Data were collected from all available documentation about deceased patients who were ≥18 years of age at the time of death and who had received healthcare services during the last 3 months of their life.Results:This article demonstrates patients' participation in end-of-life care as it was noted in the patients' documentation. Demographic variables such as age, gender, and residence did not differ between those who participated and those who did not. Patients with dementia and disorientation were separated from those who were not disoriented. There was no information about the wishes of the patients with dementia and disorientation and they were not described as participating in care and treatment. Cognitive intact patients were participating significant more often. These patients had also more symptom describes in the records. These results can indicate that a patient's participation depends upon either the patient's cognitive capability or the healthcare professionals' competence to communicate and provide adequate documentation regarding patients' participation at end-of-life. The documentation about the participation of patients with cognitive dysfunction is poor and needs further investigation, to achieve the goal of dignified end-of-life care for all patients.Significance of results:The results of the presents study call attention to the importance of finding innovative solutions to make patients with cognitive dysfunction involved in their care and treatment at end-of-life. Improvement of documentation showing patients' involvement in care is necessary, as is a discussion of how healthcare professionals can assure patients a high quality of care at end-of-life even if patients voices are not heard.

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