Anxiety

Author(s):  
Maria Gatto ◽  
Patricia Thomas ◽  
Ann Berger

Anxiety is an inherent aspect of human existence. Anxiety and chronic diseases are interchangeable in their causal relationship: chronic diseases can exacerbate symptoms of anxiety, and anxiety disorders can lead to chronic diseases. Anxiety is a specific symptom emphasized in the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care Clinical Practice Guidelines. Assessment is interdisciplinary and must address both the psychological and psychiatric aspects of care. To assure appropriate management, an understanding of etiologies for anxiety across populations and disease states is essential. Treatment relies on evidence-based pharmacological and nonpharmacological strategies to maximize patient and family coping and quality of life.

Author(s):  
Fernanda Capella Rugno ◽  
Marysia Mara Rodrigues do Prado De Carlo

ABSTRACT Objective: to identify and evaluate the evidence found in the international scientific literature on the application of the Palliative Outcome Scale (POS) in clinical practice and research in Palliative Care (PC). Method: integrative literature review, through the search of publications in journals indexed in PubMed / MEDLINE, LILACS, SciELO and CINAHL databases, between the years 1999 and 2014. Results: the final sample consisted of 11 articles. In the data analysis, the articles were classified into 2 units of analysis (studies using the POS as a resource in research and studies using the POS in clinical practice), in which the information was presented in the form of sub-themes related to publications of the selected studies, highlighting the synthesis of the results. Conclusion: POS emerged as an important tool for measuring outcomes to assess the quality of life of patients and families, of the quality of care provided and the PC service organization. The international scientific literature on the application of POS proved to be relevant to the advancement and consolidation of the field of knowledge related to PC.


2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 824
Author(s):  
_ _

Pain is one of the most common symptoms associated with cancer and one of the symptoms patients fear most; unrelieved pain denies them comfort and greatly affects their activities, motivation, interactions with family and friends, and overall quality of life. The importance of relieving pain and availability of effective therapies make it imperative that clinicians caring for cancer patients to be adept at assessing and treating cancer pain. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network Adult Cancer Pain Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology acknowledge the range of complex decisions faced in caring for these patients. As a result, they provide dosing guidelines for NSAIDs, opioids, and adjuvant analgesics. They also provide specific suggestions for escalating opioid dosage, managing opioid toxicity, and when and how to proceed to other techniques to manage cancer pain. For the most recent version of the guidelines, please visit NCCN.org


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (26_suppl) ◽  
pp. 66-66
Author(s):  
Sarina Isenberg ◽  
Rebecca Aslakson ◽  
Sydney Morss Dy ◽  
Renee Wilson ◽  
Julie Waldfogel ◽  
...  

66 Background: Recent reviews have not comprehensively addressed palliative care (PC) assessment tools. This project summarizes the extent of evidence about PC assessment tools for patients and families, and how tools have been used for clinical care, quality indicators, and evaluation of interventions. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for systematic reviews of assessment tools for PC, from January 2007 to March 2016. We searched the grey literature for domains without systematic reviews, and for domains with systematic reviews > three years old. Paired investigators independently screened search results and grey literature to determine eligibility, and assessed risk of bias of systematic reviews. The team selected the most recent and highest-quality systematic reviews for each domain. One investigator abstracted information, and a second investigator checked the information. Results: Using the National Consensus Project Palliative Care Guidelines domains, we included nine systematic reviews with 167 tools, and six tools from grey literature. Most tools were in physical, psychological, psychiatric, and social aspects of care, care at the end of life, and tools that cross domains (quality of life and caregiver-reported experience). Only two tools directly addressed spiritual aspects and none addressed cultural or patient-reported experience. Internal consistency reliability was evaluated for almost all tools; most reported construct validity; and few reported responsiveness (sensitivity to change). Few studies evaluated the use of assessment tools in quality indicators or clinical practice. A systematic review of 38 PC interventions and the assessment tools used found that at least 25 interventions included physical, psychosocial and psychiatric, and quality of life tools, but the tools varied extensively, and only nine included patient experience tools. Conclusions: Although assessment tools exist in many PC domains, tools are needed to assess spiritual and cultural aspects of care, and patient-reported experience. Research is needed concerning: tools in clinical practice and quality of care; comparison of existing tools; and evaluation and dissemination tools with evidence of responsiveness.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agustín Ciapponi ◽  
Tapia-López Elena ◽  
Virgilio Sacha ◽  
Ariel Bardach

Abstract Background Our aim was to summarize and compare relevant recommendations from evidence-based CPGs (EB-CPGs). Methods Systematic review of clinical practice guidelines. Data sources: PubMed, EMBase, Cochrane Library, LILACS, Tripdatabase and additional sources. In July 2017, we searched CPGs that were published in the last 10 years, without language restrictions, in electronic databases, and also searched specific CPG sources, reference lists and consulted experts. Pairs of independent reviewers selected EB-CPGs and rated their methodological quality using the AGREE-II instrument. We summarized recommendations, its supporting evidence and strength of recommendations according to the GRADE methodology. Results We included 16 EB-CPGs out of 2262 references identified. Only nine of them had searches within the last five years and seven used GRADE. The median (percentile 25-75) AGREE-II scores for rigor of development was 49% (35-76%) and the domain ‘applicability’ obtained the worst score: 16% (9-31%). We summarized 31 risk stratification recommendations, 21.6% of which were supported by high/moderate quality of evidence (41% of them were strong recommendations), and 16 therapeutic/preventive recommendations, 59% of which were supported by high/moderate quality of evidence (75.7% strong). We found inconsistency in ratings of evidence level. ‘Guidelines’ applicability’ and ‘monitoring’ were the most deficient domains. Only half of the EB-CPGs were updated in the past five years. Conclusions We present many strong recommendations that are ready to be considered for implementation as well as others to be interrupted, and we reveal opportunities to improve guidelines’ quality.


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