scholarly journals Neither Last nor Least: Integration of Early Palliative Care Into Standard Oncology Care

Author(s):  
Roland Kunz

Traditionally, medical oncology has concentrated on the development, implementation, and application of anticancer therapies, therefore in a number of cancers long- and short-term survival has been significantly improved.1 However, for most patients, quality of life is crucial, irrespective of the clinical course of the illness or the duration of survival.2 It is estimated that by 2060, over 16 million people will die from malignant neoplasms and experience serious health-related suffering annually, which is double the number compared with 2016.3 Consequently, building non-specialist palliative care capacity among all healthcare providers by integration of palliative care in the oncological treatment as early as possible is crucial.2,4 But how can we do that?

2021 ◽  
pp. 026921632110053
Author(s):  
Steffen Eychmüller ◽  
Susanne Zwahlen ◽  
Monica C Fliedner ◽  
Peter Jüni ◽  
Daniel M Aebersold ◽  
...  

Background: International oncology societies recommend early palliative care. Specific models to integrate early palliative care efficiently into clinical practice are debated. The authors designed a study to look at the quantitative and qualitative outcomes of an early palliative care intervention in oncological care to decrease stress and improve quality of life. Aims: To compare a single structured early palliative care intervention added to a usual oncology care in terms of distress and health-related quality of life at baseline compared to 6 months after enrollment. Design: This multicenter randomized controlled trial (NCT01983956) enrolled adult patients with advanced cancer. Participants were either randomly assigned to usual oncology care alone or usual care plus a structured early palliative care intervention. Setting/participants: One hundred fifty adult patients with a variety of advanced cancer diagnoses were randomized. Seventy-four participants were in the intervention and 76 participants in the control group. The primary outcome was the change in patient distress assessed by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network distress thermometer at 6 months. Health-related quality of life, the secondary outcome, was assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General Questionnaire. Results: The results showed no significant effect of the early palliative care intervention neither on patient distress nor on health-related quality of life. Conclusion: The addition of an early intervention to usual care for patients with advanced cancer did not improve distress or quality of life. Thus, patients may need more intensive early palliative care with continuous professional support to identify and address their palliative needs early.


Author(s):  
David Hui

This chapter discusses the Zimmermann trial, a large partially blinded, cluster randomized controlled trial of routine oncology care with or without early routine referral to palliative care. This landmark study found that early palliative care involvement was associated with improved quality of life, symptom burden and satisfaction among patients with advanced cancer. This chapter describes the basics of the study, including funding, year study began, year study was published, study location, who was studied, who was excluded, how many patients, study design, study intervention, follow-up, endpoints, results, and criticism and limitations. The chapter briefly reviews other relevant studies and information, gives a summary and discusses implications, and concludes with a relevant clinical case to illustrate some key points around palliative care referral.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 757-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan D Nipp ◽  
Areej El-Jawahri ◽  
Lara Traeger ◽  
Jamie M Jacobs ◽  
Emily R Gallagher ◽  
...  

Background: Early palliative care interventions enhance patient outcomes, including quality of life, mood, and coping, but it remains unclear whether certain subgroups of patients are more likely to benefit from early palliative care. We explored whether age and sex moderate the improved outcomes seen with early palliative care. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of data from a randomized trial of 350 patients with advanced lung and non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer. Patients received an early palliative care intervention integrated with oncology care or usual oncology care alone. We used linear regression to determine if age (older or younger than 65) and sex moderated the effects of the intervention on quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General (FACT-G)), depression symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9)), and coping (Brief COPE) within lung and gastrointestinal subgroups. Results: At 24 weeks, younger patients with lung cancer receiving early palliative care reported increased use of active coping ( B = 1.74; p = 0.02) and decreased use of avoidant coping ( B = –0.97; p = 0.02), but the effects of early palliative care on these outcomes were not significant for older patients. Male patients with lung cancer assigned to early palliative care reported better quality of life (FACT-G: B = 9.31; p = 0.01) and lower depression scores (PHQ-9: B = –2.82; p = 0.02), but the effects of early palliative care on these outcomes were not significant for female patients. At 24 weeks, we found no age or sex moderation effects within the gastrointestinal cancer subgroup. Conclusion: Age and sex moderate the effects of early palliative care for patients with advanced lung cancer. Early palliative care may need to be tailored to individuals’ unique sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (31_suppl) ◽  
pp. 71-71
Author(s):  
Anny Parot-Monpetit ◽  
Erik Monpetit

71 Background: In France, since 2002, Identified Palliative Care Beds (LISP) has contributed to the diversification and development of Palliative Care. They are identified in acute unit with significant PC activity and estimated at 5000 in 2011. In our Brittany private hospital, since fall 2008, 8 Beds are dedicated to PC in the solid tumour oncology unit (47 beds) and allowed EPC integrated to oncologic care for inpatients. Our model incorporated a PC physician as a second attending on service alongside the rounding oncologist. Time for discussions with oncologists is optimized and warranted decisions about providing adequate information to the patient and the continuation of treatments, specific or not. We thought to better define the added value of Identified PC Beds. Methods: Because more financial and educational resources are attributed to Identified Beds by health authorities to offer a true interdisciplinary approach, a specific annual evaluation is required. We analysed 7 quantitative components and the number of claimed letters about the unit between 2008 and 2013. Results: The table show an increased PC activity no reduced to terminal care (increase Home Hospice Care, decrease death) and better provider satisfaction with oncology care. Conclusions: The French concept of Identified PC Beds, in our experience, may improve early integrated PC into the inpatients and quality of care. The co management of patients with advanced cancer by oncologists and palliative care physicians is the key. Formal study of our Identified PC Beds model is warranted. [Table: see text]


2021 ◽  
Vol 162 (44) ◽  
pp. 1769-1775
Author(s):  
Orsolya Horváth ◽  
Enikő Földesi ◽  
Katalin Hegedűs

Összefoglaló. A palliatív ellátások korai bevonása az onkológiai betegek ellátásába előnnyel jár mind a beteg életminősége, mind a kezelés színvonala, mind a költséghatékonyság szempontjából. Szükség van egy olyan modellre, mely alapján a megfelelő időben, a megfelelő beteg a megfelelő minőségű palliatív ellátásban részesül. Ebben a közleményben a palliatív ellátás korai integrációjának előnyei, szintjei és a speciális palliatív ellátás fogalmának ismertetése után a leginkább elterjedt beutalási modellek előnyeit és hátrányait mutatjuk be a nemzetközi szakirodalom alapján. A speciális palliatív ellátást igénylő betegek kiszűrésére szolgáló, prognózisalapú modellek hátránya, hogy nincs elég kapacitás az ilyen módon beutalt nagyszámú beteg ellátására, ezért széles körben nem terjedtek el. A tüneteken alapuló modellek sokszor bonyolultak és a mindennapi klinikai gyakorlatban nem használatosak. Az új kutatások alapján egyszerű, gyakorlatias kérdéssorokat alkalmaznak, melyekkel könnyen kiemelhetők, akik profitálnak a speciális palliatív intervencióból. Ezek közül a Yale egyetemi és a PALLIA -10 modellt ismertetjük részletesen. Amennyiben az aktív onkológiai ellátást végzők a megfelelő palliatív beutalási kritériumokat ismerik és alkalmazzák, a betegek időben jutnak a megfelelő komplex kezeléshez anélkül, hogy a palliatív ellátórendszer túlterhelődne. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(44): 1769–1775. Summary. Early integration of palliative care into the trajectory of cancer care brings advantages into the patients’ quality of life, the level of care and cost-efficiency, too. On the basis of a predefined model, the right patient may receive the right level of palliative care at the right time. Having defined the advantages, the levels of early integration of palliative care and the concept of special palliative care, we also aim to describe the advantages and disadvantages of the most common referral models on the basis of international literature in this article. The drawback of prognosis-based models to identify patients needing special palliative care is the lack of capacity to provide care for the large number of patients so recognised; therefore they have not become widespread. Needs-based models tend to be complicated and thus rarely applied in everyday clinical practice. On the basis of new researches, simple, pragmatic questionnaires are utilised through which the patients who could benefit from special palliative care interventions are easy to identify. Here we give a detailed report of the Yale University and PALLIA-10 models. On condition that appropriate palliative referral criteria are known and applied by active oncology care providers, patients may receive adequate complex care without the palliative care system being overloaded. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(44): 1769–1775.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Hurteau

Palliative care integrated with standard oncology care in cancer patients has been shown to provide a number of beneficial clinical outcomes. Despite the evidence, the utilization of palliative care in the oncology population continues to be inadequate. The purpose of this program development, quality improvement project was to improve nurses’ knowledge regarding palliative care and the benefits of its early implementation in the oncology population, as well as to improve their confidence regarding palliative care consultations to providers. An educational intervention was designed and a pre and posttest were utilized to determine the effect of the intervention. This program development, quality improvement project demonstrated that the implementation of nursing education regarding palliative care within the oncology population increased nurses’ knowledge in palliative care, specific to the oncology population, as well as confidence in recommending appropriate palliative care consultations to providers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e24003-e24003
Author(s):  
Munir Murad Junior ◽  
Thiago Henrique Mascarenhas Nébias ◽  
Marcos Antonio da Cunha Santos ◽  
Mariangela Cherchiglia

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-403
Author(s):  
Silvia Tanzi ◽  
Francesco Venturelli ◽  
Stefano Luminari ◽  
Franco Domenico Merlo ◽  
Luca Braglia ◽  
...  

BackgroundEarly palliative care together with standard haematological care for advanced patients is needed worldwide. Little is known about its effect. The aim of the review is to synthesise the evidence on the impact of early palliative care on haematologic cancer patients’ quality of life and resource use.Patients and methodsA systematic review was conducted. The search terms were early palliative care or simultaneous or integrated or concurrent care and haematological or oncohaematological patients. The following databases were searched: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, CINHAL and Scopus. Additional studies were identified through cross-checking the reference articles. Studies were in the English language, with no restriction for years. Two researchers independently reviewed the titles and abstracts, and one author assessed full articles for eligibility.ResultsA total of 296 studies titles were reviewed. Eight articles were included in the synthesis of the results, two controlled studies provided data on the comparative efficacy of PC interventions, and six one-arm studies were included. Since data pooling and meta-analysis were not possible, only a narrative synthesis of the study results was performed. The quality of the two included comparative studies was low overall. The quality of the six non-comparative studies was high overall, without the possibility of linking the observed results to the implemented interventions.ConclusionsStudies on early palliative care and patients with haematological cancer are scarce and have not been prospectively designed. More research on the specific population target, type and timing of palliative care intervention and standardisation of collected outcomes is required.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020141322.


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