June 26, 2012
Summary: As patients live longer, many states, community-based coalitions, and health care providers have begun to focus on the quality—and quantity—of medical care provided at the end of life. The resulting programs have provided physicians with techniques for delivering bad news, managing transitions to palliative care, and handling requests for therapies that are likely to be futile. They’ve also helped to elicit patient preferences, leading to lower utilization in some locations.
Posted in Mass Media Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Palliative care, Quality of care | No Comments
July 15, 2011
This article reviews doctors reluctance to tell terminal patients that they are dying. Rather then using clear, strong language, doctors often express that patients are in a “bad spot.” While doctors use this language to cushion the blow to patients and to assuage their own sense of defeat at not being able to help someone, it often proves a greater detriment to patients as they do not realize what is really meant. Doctors will often try treatments that they know to be ineffective rather then telling the patient that they will not recover, which often means that patients do not have a chance to come to terms with their “end-of-life” journey.
Posted in Mass Media Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Palliative care | No Comments
April 14, 2011
“Workforce shortages, late referrals, and palliative care program resource constraints present significant barriers to meeting the needs of hospitalized patients facing serious illnesses. The Center to Advance Palliative Care convened a consensus panel to select criteria by which patients at high risk for unmet palliative care needs can be identified in advance for a palliative care screening assessment. The consensus panel developed primary and secondary criteria for two checklists—one to use for screening at the time of admission and one for daily patient rounds. The consensus panel believes that by implementing a checklist approach to screening patients for unmet palliative care needs, combined with educational initiatives and other system-change work, hospital staff engaged in day-to-day patient care can identify a majority of such needs, reserving specialty palliative care services for more complex problems.”
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Hospice care, Palliative care, Patient-centered care, Quality of care | No Comments
March 24, 2011
This report focuses on importance of planning for end-of-life care. It seeks to help healthcare managers, policy makers, government officials, and healthcare consumers achieve the following goals:
- “Inform and Empower (healthcare users);
- Support A Health Care System that Ensures High-Quality Patient-Centered Care;
- Ensure A Knowledgeable, Competent, and Compassionate Workforce;
- Create Financing Structures that Promote Patient-Centered Care;
- Create A Responsible Entity to Ensure Excellence and Accountability;
- Employ Quality Indicators and Performance Measurement.”
The report advocates finding out what patients really want and meeting these wants through advance care planning, palliative care systems, and hospice planning. This approach improves overall quality of life for patients and helps families and friends overcome loss.
“
- Inform and Empower (healthcare users)
- Support A Health Care System that Ensures High-Quality Patient-Centered Care
- Ensure A Knowledgeable, Competent, and Compassionate Workforce
- Create Financing Structures that Promote Patient-Centered Care
- Create A Responsible Entity to Ensure Excellence and Accountability
- Employ Quality Indicators and Performance Measurement
.”
The report advocates finding out what patients really want and meeting these wants through advance care planning, palliative care systems, and hospice planning. This approach improves overall quality of life for patients and helps families and friends overcome loss.
Posted in READ Portal, Reports & Papers | Tagged with Access to care, Health care reform, Health services for the aged, Hospice care, Palliative care, Patient-centered care | No Comments
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