Hospice and Palliative Care News

Health care systems have previously acknowledged the importance of — but rarely implemented — strategies for integrating palliative care into ED care, researchers wrote in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

A study of Medicare beneficiaries showed those who participated in the transplant process received more intensive end-of-life care than other patients with end-stage kidney disease.

Study findings indicated that while most patients on dialysis reported that they wanted CPR performed if their “heart were to stop beating,” these preferences were not always associated with other aspects of end-of-life care.

In certain patients with COPD, regular, low-dose, oral sustained-release morphine treatment for 4 weeks improved several disease outcomes without causing respiratory adverse effects, a randomized clinical trial showed.

Mayo Clinic has been ranked the No. 1 hospital nationwide by U.S. News and World Report, the fifth consecutive year that the hospital in Rochester, Minn., has received the top spot on the publication’s Best Hospitals Honor Roll list.

Older adults are among the most vulnerable populations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for eight out of 10 deaths from the virus in the United States, according to the CDC.

So far this year, 88 nurses have died of COVID-19 as of May 6, according to National Nurses United, or NNU, the largest union of registered nurses in the United States.

The unique challenges of COVID-19 require adjustments to the delivery of palliative care during the pandemic, according to an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Patients with Parkinson’s disease experienced improved quality of life and reduced symptoms when they received outpatient palliative care provided by a team of providers vs. standard care from a single provider, according to the results of a randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Neurology.

Many physicians treating older patients who require surrogate decision-makers experience moral distress, according to research recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.