The primary focus of this literature search is selected articles, etc., on key issues in end-of-life care for which the full text is available online. Added, however, are a few noteworthy articles, etc., but for which access to the full text is available only with a subscription or for a one-time fee for the article in question.1 Also listed are a few postings of special interest on key websites that serve the hospice and palliative care communities-at-large, and selected news media reports. The next listing will be published in approximately four to six weeks.
Articles of particular interest.
Libraries in educational institutions and medical centres may have a subscription to the journal in question and hold a photocopying licence, which may facilitate cost-effective access.
N.B. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal.
Related:
News Media Reports of Interest: ‘In Africa, the question of end of life centered on the emergence of palliative care,’ The Teller Report, 2 March 2024; ‘Palliative Care and the importance thereof in low- and middle-countries especially,’ FutureMedia News (Namibia), 23 February 2024.
Related:
1.2 ‘Revised European Association for Palliative Care recommended framework on palliative sedation: An international Delphi study,’ Palliative Medicine. Posted online 31 January 2024. Full text
N.B. This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review.
N.B. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal.
N.B. The World Café
Care Planning & Serious Illness Conversations
Related:
1.2 ‘Right-sizing interprofessional team training for serious-illness communication: A strength-based approach,’ PEC Innovation. Posted online 16 February 2024. Full text
1.3 ‘“We want to talk about death, dying and grief and to learn about end-of-life care”: Lessons learned from a multi-center mixed-methods study on Last Aid courses for kids and teens,’ Children. Posted online 9 February 2024. Full text
Pediatric Palliative Care
Physicians et al
Related:
3.2 ‘Knowledge and attitude of healthcare providers regarding palliative care and related factors: An online cross-sectional study,’ Cureus. Posted online 19 February 2024. Full text
3.3 ‘Teaching about palliative care for the development of emotional skills in medical students,’ Brazilian Journal of Implantology & Health Sciences, 2024;6(2):969-983. Full Portuguese text w. English language abstract (click on pdf icon)
Public Virtual Educational Platform
Paramedics
Nursing
Spirituality
Related:
7.2 ‘Experiential training course on spirituality for multidisciplinary palliative care teams in a hospital setting: A feasibility study,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 10 February 2024. Full text
Related:
Website Posting of Interest: ‘Update on pain medicine shortages: February 2024,’ Palliative Care New South Wales (Australia), 22 February 2024.
Related:
Website Posting of Interest: ‘Why healthcare research is important,’ Hospice UK, 29 February 2024.
Cultural & Linguistic Diversity
Related:
1.2 ‘Disparities in end-of-life care for racial minorities: a narrative review,’ Annals of Palliative Medicine. Posted online 21 February 2024. Full text (click on pdf icon)
1.3 ‘Cultural advocacy for indigenous individuals with serious illness,’ American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine. Posted online 2 February 2024. Full text
Website Posting of Interest: ‘Providing culturally safe end of life care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people,’ Palliative Care Australia, 4 March 2024
Health Care for the Older Population
Medical Assistance in Dying
N.B. Section on palliative care begins on p.72.
Related:
3.2 ‘The evolving complexities of MAiD care in Canada from a nursing perspective,’ Global Qualitative Nursing Research. Posted online 29 February 2024. Full text
3.3 ‘Perspectives of Canadian health leaders on the relationship between medical assistance in dying and palliative and end-of-life care services: A qualitative study,’ Canadian Medical Association Journal. Posted online 26 February 2024. Full text
Website Posting of Interest: ‘Navigating the topic of voluntary assisted dying in advance care planning conversations,’ Australian Centre for Health Law Research – ‘Guiding Principles for Health Professionals,’20 February 2024.
Community & Home-Based Palliative Care
Related:
4.2 ‘Patients’ and relatives’ preferences for outpatient and day care services within end-of-life care in Germany: A discrete choice experiment,’ Patience Preferences & Adherence. Posted online 29 February 2024. Full text
4.3 ‘“Before I came to the hospice, I had nobody”: A qualitative exploration of what patients, family-caregivers, clinicians and volunteers valued most about home, day therapy or inpatient hospice services,’ Palliative Care & Social Practice. Posted online 28 February 2024. Full text
4.4 ‘Estimated mortality risk and use of palliative care services among home care clients during the last 6 months of life: A retrospective cohort study,’ Canadian Medical Association Journal. Posted online 26 February 2024. Full text
4.5 ‘Place of death for adults receiving specialist palliative care in their last 3 months of life: Factors associated with preferred place, actual place, and place of death congruence,’ Journal of Palliative Care. Posted online 25 February 2024. Full text
4.6 ‘Understanding patient and family utilisation of community-based palliative care services out-of-hours: Additional analysis of systematic review evidence using narrative synthesis,’ Plos One. Posted online 21 February 2024. Full text
News Media Reports of Interest: ‘Only half of patients dying in community received palliative care, study says,’ 1 The Ottawa Citizen (Canada), 26 February 2024;‘Report warns patients receiving palliative care at home are suffering energy hardship,’ 2 Irish Examiner (Ireland), 21 February 2024; ‘Study: Home health care linked to increased hospice use at end-of-life,’ 3 Patch Media (U.S.), 21 February 2024.
Oncology
Related:
5.2 ‘A clinical view on the palliative care challenges for oncology patients,’ Research Square. Posted online 22 February 2024. Full text
N.B. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal.
5.3 ‘Embodied decisions unfolding over time: A meta-ethnography systematic review of people with cancer’s reasons for delaying or declining end-of-life care,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 19 February 2024. Full text
5.4 ‘The effect of palliative care on quality of life outcome of patients with advanced cancer: A systematic review,’ Research Square. Posted online 6 February 2024. Full text
N.B. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal.
5.5 ‘Difficult situations and feelings in oncological palliative care,’ Cadernos de Saúde Pública (Public Health Notebooks), 2024;40(1). English language full text
News Media Report of Interest: ‘Cancer patients may require enhanced palliative care,’ 1 Mirage (Australia), 19 February 2024.
Psychosocial & Spiritual Care
Related:
6.2 ‘Exploring spirituality, religion and life philosophy among parents of children receiving palliative care: A qualitative study,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 15 February 2024. Full text
6.3 ‘Demystifying African American spirituality: Exploring the measurement of spirituality in the context of medical decision-making,’ Illness, Crisis & Loss. Posted online 14 February 2024. Full text
Care Planning & Serious Illness Conversations
Related:
7.2 ‘An integrative review of the state of POLST science: What do we know and where do we go?’ Journal of American Medical Directors Association. Posted online 21 February 2024. Full text
N.B. POLST = Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment
7.3 ‘What are the barriers and facilitators to advance care planning with older people in long-term care facilities? A qualitative study,’ Journal of Clinical Nursing. Posted online 20 February 2024. Full text
7.4 ‘Are specialist-provided end-of-life scenarios key to initiation of advance care planning in primary care? A mixed-methods study,’ Palliative & Supportive Care. Posted online 16 February 2024. Full text
7.5 ‘“Can a relative override a patient’s advance care directive?”: End-of-life legal worries of general practitioners and nurses working in aged care,’ Australian Journal of Primary Health. Posted online 15 February 2024. Full text
7.6 ‘Understanding the discordance about prognosis between clinicians and terminally ill patients and their surrogates,’ The ASCO Post. Posted online 14 February 2024. Full text
7.7 ‘Implementation of an advance care planning intervention in nursing homes: An international multiple case study,’ The Gerontologist. Posted online 13 February 2024. Full text (click on pdf icon)
7.8 ‘Measures of patient and surrogate preparedness for end-of-life decision-making,’ Journal of Pain & Symptom Management. Posted online 12 February 2024. Abstract (w. intro., section snippets, references, etc.)
7.9 ‘Difficulties of cancer patients’ relatives in end-of-life discussions: Validation of a questionnaire,’ Journal of Pain & Symptom Management. Posted online 12 February 2024. Full text
7.10 ‘A mixed methods analysis of standardized documentation of serious illness conversations within an electronic health record module during hospitalization,’ American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine. Posted online 9 February 2024. Full text
Website Posting of Interest: ‘New tools to help health professionals with palliative care conversations,’ Palliative Care Australia, 21 February 2024.;
Critical Care Medicine
Related:
8.2 ‘What are the triggers for palliative care referral in burn intensive care units? Results from a qualitative study based on healthcare professionals’ views, clinical experiences and practices,’ Palliative Medicine. Posted online 19 February 2024. Full text
COVID-19
Related:
9.2 ‘Impact of palliative care at end-of-life COVID-19 patients: A small-scale pioneering experience,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 10 February 2024. Full text
Website Postings of Interest: ‘Time to Reflect,’ Irish Hospice Foundation, 27 February 2024; ‘A nation still in mourning: One in two bereaved adults still coming to terms with pandemic grief,’ eHospice, 20 February 2024.
Pediatric Palliative Care
Related:
10.2 ‘How to move forward in shared decision-making in pediatric palliative care,’ Current Problems in Pediatric & Adolescent Health Care. Posted online 14 February 2024. Full text
10.3 ‘Psychologists as pivotal members of the pediatric palliative care team,’ Journal of Pain & Symptom Management. Posted online 12 February 2024. Abstract (w. section snippets, references, etc.)
Website Postings of Interest: ‘Uzbekistan’s first children’s hospice, 1 year on,’ World Health Organization, 15 February 2024; ‘First report on paediatric palliative care in Australia gives snapshot of impact and need,’ Palliative Care Australia, 14 February 2024; ‘The State of Pediatric Palliative Care in Canada,’ CADUS, 13 February 2024; ‘Launch of the Children’s Palliative Care Leadership Institute,’ International Children’s Palliative Care Network, 10 February 2024.
News Media Report of Interest: ‘Child palliative care: A sad but avoidable plight,’ Otaihanga Second Opinion (New Zealand), 3 March 2024.
Technology
N.B. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal.
Related:
11.2 ‘Virtual reality in specialist palliative care: A feasibility study to enable clinical practice adoption,’ BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. Posted online 21 February 2024. Full text
11.3 ‘How can technology be used to support communication in palliative care beyond the Covid-19 pandemic: A mixed-methods national survey of palliative care healthcare professionals,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 14 February 2024. Full text
11.4 ‘The use of Artificial Intelligence-based technologies in palliative care: Advancing patient well-being at the end of life and enhancing the implementation of the Dying Patient Act,’ Israel Medical association Journal, 2024;28(2):126-129. Full text (click on pdf icon)
11.5 ‘The use of Artificial Intelligence in writing scientific review articles,’ Current Osteoporosis Reports. Posted online 16 January 2024. Full text
News Media Report of Interest: ‘We gave palliative care patients VR therapy. More than 50% said it helped reduce pain and depression symptoms,’ 1 The National Tribune (Australia), 22 February 2024; ‘End-of-life: The one decision AI cannot predict,’ Forbes (U.S.), 10 February 2024.
Neuropalliative Care
Related:
12.2 ‘Support needs of people with multiple system atrophy,’ Parkinsonism & Related Disorders. Accessed online 14 February 2024. Full text
12.3 ‘Using the Carers’ Alert Thermometer tool to identify needs and support family caregivers of people with motor neurone disease: Moving beyond needs assessments,’ Palliative Care & Social Practice. Posted online 11 February 2024. Full text
12.4 ‘Partly unequal receipt of healthcare in last month of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A retrospective cohort study of the Stockholm region,’ Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences (Upsala Medical Society). Posted online 8 February 2024. Full text (click on pdf icon)
12.5 ‘Comparison of the quality of nurse-Led palliative care with standard medical care during six months in 405 patients with Parkinson’s disease and burdens of their caregivers: A retrospective study at a single center in China,’ Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 2024;121(2):53-60. Abstract (w. intro., section snippets, references, etc.)
Grief & Bereavement
Related:
13.2 ‘Death and grief in illustrated storybooks: An inventory of Swedish literature for young children,’ Death Studies. Posted online 13 February 2024. Full text
End-of-Life Care in Remote & Rural Areas
Siblings’ Perspective
Palliative Care Psychiatry
Related:
News Media Report of Interest: ‘Palliative psychiatry offers a new path for some people with serious mental illness,’ Stat, 27 February 2024.
International
Canada
U.K.
U.K.
U.S.A.
Related:
5.2 ‘A year after Jimmy Carter entered hospice care, advocates hope his endurance drives awareness,’ The Associated Press, 18 February 2024. Full text