NCCN Expands Focus on Quality of Life and Supportive Care with New Guides for People with Cancer

National Comprehensive Cancer Network publishes free NCCN Guidelines for Patients with information on improving well-being and reducing suffering and distress for people with cancer; available at NCCN.org/patientguidelines.

New Study Shows Insurance Coverage Disruptions Affect Key Cancer Screenings for U.S. Adults

A new study by researchers at the American Cancer Society shows that adults in the United States with prior insurance coverage disruptions are significantly less likely to receive guideline-concordant and past-year cancer screening, compared to people with continuous coverage.

Using recent diagnostic scans can substantially cut time to treatment for patients needing urgent palliation

Using previously taken diagnostic computed tomography (CT) scans in place of CT simulation scans to plan simple palliative radiation treatments can substantially reduce the time some people spend waiting for urgent treatment, improving the patient experience, a new study suggests.

New Study Shows Medicaid Expansion Associated With Increase in Palliative Care for Patients With Advanced Cancers

More people with advanced cancers in the United States received critical palliative care services, according to new findings by researchers at the American Cancer Society. Medicaid expansion under the ACA was associated with the largest increases in palliative care use.

Patients With Alzheimer Disease, Dementia Face 2x Risk of Dying After ICU Discharge

Older adults with Alzheimer disease and related dementia who were admitted to an ICU were much less likely to be discharged home and faced almost twice the risk of dying soon after discharge and within the 12 months afterward.

URI business professor, colleagues look at mortality and leadership succession in family business

By 2030, more than 30% of family businesses in the U.S. will lose their aging leaders to retirement, or death. Many of those leaders don’t have a strategy for letting go of their business, turning it over to a successor, or selling it. While it is rare for an incumbent leader to die while in office, it is difficult for them to face their mortality.

A Leader Fighting the Overdose Crisis Urges Standardizing Addiction Medicine Education and Supporting New DEA Requirements

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The National Vital Statistics System, drug-related overdose deaths have been rising over the past two decades in the United States. In 2021, 106,699 drug overdose deaths occurred. Adults aged 65 and over…

Patients’ Families Are A Key Factor in End-of-Life Care at Rural Hospitals

Nurses at critical access hospitals rate family behaviors and attitudes as dominant factors to providing end-of-life care, similar to their counterparts at large, urban medical centers, suggesting that caring for dying patients has much in common regardless of rural or urban location

MD Anderson Research Highlights: ASCO 2022 Special Edition

This special edition features upcoming oral presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting focused on quality improvement, health services research, new treatments for skin cancers, and symptoms and survivorship advances. More information on ASCO content from MD Anderson can be found at MDAnderson.org/ASCO.

Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Research Explores Quality and Access to Patient Care

The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation announced research results from four studies examining access to care and outcomes for patients living with pulmonary fibrosis and interstitial lung disease.

Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Position Statement Recommends Addressing Palliative Care Early in Patient Journey

New Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) position statement advises that pulmonologists who treat patients with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) explore palliative care resources available in their communities to facilitate early referral and better quality of life.

Growing Use of Mechanical Circulatory Support Affects Clinician Well-Being, Moral Distress

The growing use of mechanical circulatory support may contribute to high levels of moral distress for clinicians who regularly care for ICU patients receiving the aggressive but life-sustaining therapy, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

New UNLV Program Training Next Generation of Occupational Therapists

UNLV’s new intensive and innovative three-year doctoral program in occupational therapy, housed in the School of Integrated Health Sciences, is training students to meet the needs of Nevada patients — from babies in the NICU to those recovering from accidents and strokes — reclaim their lives.

Palliative Care for Cancer Patients: How does it Help?

For cancer patients undergoing treatments, palliative care can provide excellent pain and symptom management that can help them feel better. Palliative care experts at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
answer common questions about how palliative care can enhance quality of life for patients to highlight palliative care and cancer pain awareness month.

Palliative Care for Cancer Patients: How does it Help?

For cancer patients undergoing treatments, palliative care can provide excellent pain and symptom management that can help them feel better. Palliative care experts at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
answer common questions about how palliative care can enhance quality of life for patients to highlight palliative care and cancer pain awareness month.

Using Computation to Improve Words: Model Offers Novel Tool for Improving Serious Illness Conversations

Conversations between seriously ill people, their families and palliative care specialists lead to better quality-of-life. Understanding what happens during these conversations – and how they vary by cultural, clinical, and situational contexts – is essential to guide healthcare communication improvement efforts. To gain true understanding, new methods to study conversations in large, inclusive, and multi-site epidemiological studies are required. A new computer model offers an automated and valid tool for such large-scale scientific analyses.

Older Adults with Functional Impairments Linked to Prescription Drug Use/Misuse

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that functional impairments among adults aged 50 and older are associated with a higher risk of medical cannabis use; and prescription opioid and tranquilizer/sedative use and misuse.

Mexico’s poor have little luck obtaining opioids intended for palliative care

Despite a Mexican government initiative launched in 2015 to improve access to prescription opioids among palliative care patients, the country has seen only a marginal increase in dispensing levels, and inequities in dispensing have left many of the nation’s poorest residents without comfort in their final days

Perception of Palliative Care in South Asian populations

Funded by a McMaster University, Department of Family Medicine, Pilot Research Project Funding Grant, the observational study is one of the few person-centered palliative care studies focused on the South Asian community outside India. The results showed that seventy per cent of participants in the study had a lack of understanding of palliative care and forty-four per cent thought that palliative care went against their values and beliefs.

Post-ICU Interviews Reveal Outcomes Important to Patients, Families

A Penn Medicine study in American Journal of Critical Care offers insights into patients’ and families’ priorities for quality metrics during the ICU stay and postdischarge outcomes. Researchers conducted interviews with individual ICU survivors, as well as family caregivers of patients who survived and of patients who died.

What does ‘do not resuscitate’ mean? Varying interpretations may affect patient care, reports American Journal of Nursing

When patients have a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order, it means they have chosen not to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). But hospital nurses report significant variations in the way DNR orders are perceived or acted on in clinical practice, reports a survey study in the January issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Alabama Symphony Orchestra musicians perform virtual concerts for sickest COVID-19 patients at UAB Hospital

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the sickest patients at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital have had their troubles eased, however briefly, thanks to an innovative musical project. Helping those patients recover — and keeping their spirits up amid the isolation the virus requires — is the motivation for the project, an effort between UAB health care staff and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

Palliative Nursing’s Role During COVID-19 and Beyond

As a rapid influx of patients overwhelmed health systems during the coronavirus pandemic, palliative nurses played dual roles supporting patients, patient families, and colleagues. Two researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) are among those detailing the important role palliative care has in responding during the COVID-19 pandemic and in future public health crises.

JNCCN: Many Hospitalized People with Advanced Cancer Struggle with Important Daily Tasks

New research from Mass General Cancer Center, published in the June 2020 issue of JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, found 40.2% of hospitalized patients with advanced, incurable cancer were functionally impaired at the time of admission.

Rutgers Experts Available to Discuss Their First-Hand Experience of Connecting Dying Covid-19 Patients with Family

Since hospitals implemented no-visitor policies, health care providers and patient advocates have stepped in, using cell phones and iPads to connect Covid-19 patients with loved ones.

Noticing the need for patient and family support services in the medical intensive care unit at University Hospital in Newark, Jenna Marcus, an assistant professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and gynecologic oncologist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, launched the “Palliative Care Mobile Unit” with the support of hospital administration.

$350,000 Gift Made to Support Pediatric Palliative Care at K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital

The Hackensack Meridian Health Jersey Shore University Medical Center Foundation is pleased to announce a gift of $350,000 from the Morris and Clara Weshnak Family Foundation, administered by Barry and Carol Anne Cawley Weshnak, in support of the Pediatric Palliative Care Program at Hackensack Meridian Health K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital. The program helps children living with chronic illnesses and life-threatening medical conditions by working to improve the quality of life of these children and focusing on treatment of symptoms, pain and stress management, as well as offering comprehensive patient and family support.

Depression, Anxiety Linked to Opioid Use in Women With Breast Cancer

The findings should encourage doctors to better manage mental health in patients with breast cancer and spur care providers to consider alternative pain management such as physical therapy, massage and acupuncture, the researchers say.