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.
Related:
2.2 ‘Practicing surgeons’ perception of barriers to palliative care delivery in British Columbia,’ Cureus. Posted online 11 April 2024. Full text
Website Posting of Interest: ‘65% of adults are worried about access to palliative care,’ King’s College London (U.K.), 29 April 2024; ‘Funding and access to hospice care in Wales,’ Bangor University, 24 April 2024.
Related:
2.2 ‘End-of-life care in Germany between 2016 and 2020: A repeated cross-sectional analysis of statutory health insurance data,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 20 April 2024. Full text
Related:
5.2 ‘From static snapshots to dynamic panoramas: The evolution and future vision of palliative care atlas in cross-national perspectives,’ Research in Health Services & Regions (Spain). Posted online 18 April 2024. Full text
Website Posting of Interest: ‘Supporting dignity at the end of life: Practical everyday considerations,’ CareSearch (Australia), 1 May 2024.
News Media Reports of Interest: ‘In two states, transforming the model for palliative care,’ Undark (U.S.), 16 April 2024: ; ‘French government’s seven-step plan to improve end-of-life care,’ The Local (France), 10 April 2024.
Related:
4.2 ‘Implementing spiritual care education into the teaching of palliative medicine: An outcome evaluation,’ BMC Medical Education (Germany). Posted online 15 April 15 2024. Full text
4.3 ‘Basic training in palliative medicine for internal medicine residents: Pilot testing of a Canadian model in Switzerland,’ Palliative Medicine Reports. Posted online 15 April 2024. Full text
N.B. Contributing authors from Austria, Estonia, Finland, France, Israel, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and U.K.
Related:
6.2 ‘Competencies perceived based program for nurses regarding palliative and end-of-life care,’ International Journal of Novel Research in Healthcare & Nursing (Egypt). Posted online 18 April 2024. Full text
6.3 ‘Crossing Antarctica: Hospital nurses’ experience of knowledge when providing palliative and end-of-life care,’ Nurse Education Today (U.K.). Posted online 14 April 2024. Full text
Website Postings of Interest: ‘Training to provide inclusive palliative care,’ Australian Ageing Agenda (Australia), 12 April 2024: https://bit.ly/3JR3CAZ; ‘Grief training in palliative care fellowships,’ Hospice Palliative Care Ontario (Canada), 10 April 2024: https://bit.ly/3w5SQDo
Environmental Matters
Community & Home-Based Palliative Care
Related:
2.2 ‘Willingness to support neighbours practically or emotionally: A cross-sectional survey among the general public,’ Palliative Care & Social Practice (Belgium). Posted online 9 May 2024. Full text
2.3 ‘The effectiveness of out-of-hours palliative care telephone advice lines: A rapid systematic review,’ Palliative Medicine (U.K.). Posted online 6 May 2024. Full text
2.4 ‘How to approach patients and families at the end of life,’ South African Family Practice (South Africa). Posted online 24 April 2024. Full text
2.5 ‘Patients’ experiences with shared decision-making in home-based palliative care – navigation through major life decisions,’ BMC Palliative Care (Norway). Posted online 17 April 2024. Full text
2.6 ‘In-home respite care services available to families with palliative care needs in Quebec: Novel digital environmental scan,’ JMIR Nursing (Canada). Posted online 16 April 2024. Full text
2.7 ‘Palliative care in the community: The Greek version of the Supportive & Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT™),’ Journal of Primary Care & Community Health (Greece). Posted online 11 April 2024. Full text
2.8 ‘Telephone advice lines for adults with advanced illness and their family carers: A qualitative analysis and novel practical framework,’ Palliative Medicine (U.K.). Posted online 10 April 2024. Full text
2.9 ‘Communities of care approach: Developing a place-based model of care and building partnerships in the communities in central Singapore,’ International Journal of Integrated Care. Posted online 9 April 2024. Full text
2.10 ‘The role of pharmacist in community palliative care: A scoping review,’ International Journal of Pharmacy Practice (Australia). Posted online 8 April 2024. Full text
2.11 ‘End-of-life care at home: Dignity of family caregivers,’ Nursing Ethics (Norway). Posted online 8 April 2024. Full text
Website Posting of Interest: ‘Greater Choices for At-Home Palliative Care – Information pack for general practice,’ North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (Australia), 17 April 2024: https://bit.ly/3JyLBa8
Pediatric Palliative Care
Related:
3.2 ‘Children with palliative care needs – the landscape of the Nordic countries,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 8 May 2024. Full text
N.B. Åland, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
3.3 ‘Meta-synthesis of ethnic minority families’ experiences of children’s palliative care across developed countries,’ Palliative & Supportive Care (U.K.). Posted online 24 April 2024. Full text
3.4 ‘Chinese and Belgian pediatricians’ perspectives toward pediatric palliative care: An online survey,’ BMC Palliative Care (China). Posted online 23 April 2024. Full text
3.5 ‘Enhancing quality of life in pediatric palliative care: Insights, challenges, and future directions – a systematic review,’ Health & Social Care in the Community (Spain). Posted online 23 April 2024. Full text
3.6 ‘It’s about living a normal life: Parents’ quality of life when their child has a life-threatening or life-limiting condition – a qualitative study,’ BMC Palliative Care (Norway). Posted online 9 April 2024. Full text
3.7 ‘Palliative care for children with cancer: Caregivers’ perceptions of the form of care, availability, and the child’s symptoms at the end of life,’ Lakartidningen (Sweden). Posted online 9 April 2024. Full Swedish text: https://bit.ly/4b7rBHp
Website Postings of Interest: ‘Culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people,’ eHospice (Australia), 30 April 2024: https://bit.ly/3UEy9Il; ‘PALLIPED – The report on pediatric palliative care provision in Italy in the Italian Journal of Pediatrics,’ eHospice, 15 April 2024: https://bit.ly/3xWZwEl
Assisted Dying Practices
Related:
4.2 ‘Facing a request for assisted death – views of Finnish physicians, a mixed method study,’ BMC Medical Ethics (Finland). Posted online 3 May 2024. Full text
4.3 ‘The wish to hasten death in patients with life-limiting conditions. A systematic overview,’ Journal of Pain & Symptom Management (Spain). Posted online 3 May 2024. Full text
4.4 ‘Assisted dying needs a thoughtful and engaged dialogue,’ The Lancet (U.K.). Posted online 27 April 2024. Full text
4.5 ‘Rural healthcare professionals’ participation in medical assistance in dying (MAiD): Beyond a binary decision,’ BMC Palliative Care (Canada). Posted online 25 April 2024. Full text
N.B. See special issue of ‘Literature Search’ on assisted dying practices at: https://bit.ly/4aUv8cq
Website Posting of Interest: ‘Palliative sedation Is not a form of assisted suicide,’ PalliNews (International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care), 9 May 2024: https://bit.ly/44ynbYd; ‘Thinking aloud as an organisation about assisted dying,’ eHospice (U.K.), 8 May 2024: https://bit.ly/4blbMgI
Public Engagement
N.B. iLive Consortium website: https://bit.ly/44uZ1Og
Related:
5.2 ‘Building public engagement and access to palliative care and advance care planning: A qualitative study,’ BMC Palliative Care (Northern Ireland). Posted online 12 April 2024. Full text
Grief & Bereavement
Related:
6.2 ‘“I have never felt so alone and vulnerable”: A qualitative study of bereaved people’s experiences of end-of-life cancer care during the Covid-19 pandemic,’ Research Square (Wales). Posted online 23 April 2024. Full text
N.B. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal.
6.3 ‘How can I deal with the death of a patient?’ British Medical Journal (U.K.). Posted online 15 April 2024. Full text
Technology
Related:
7.2 ‘The effects of virtual reality interventions on occupational participation and distress from symptoms in palliative care patients: A pilot study,’ Palliative & Supportive Care (Australia). Posted online 12 April 2024. Full text
Website Posting of Interest: ‘How new technology makes us feel is important,’ Marie Curie (U.K.), 11 April 2024: https://bit.ly/4aTpFTu
Substance Use Disorders
Related:
8.2 ‘Association between opioid use disorder and palliative care: A cohort study using linked health administrative data in Ontario, Canada,’ Canadian Medical Association Journal. Posted online 29 April 2024. Full text
Psychosocial & Spiritual Care
Related:
9.2 ‘Positive psychology and palliative care: A call for an integrative approach,’ Palliative Care & Supportive Care (Switzerland). Posted online 8 April 2024. Full text
9.3 ‘Staff perceptions of the use of the patient dignity inventory in a Welsh palliative care service,’ Progress in Palliative Care (Wales). Posted online 8 April 2024. Full text
Place of Death
Pain Management
Related:
11.2 ‘Medication strategies: enhancing symptom management and quality of life in palliative care,’ International Journal of Community Medicine & Public Health (Portugal), 2024;11(5):1796-1801. Full text
Low- & Middle-Income Countries
N.B. Contributing authors from Malawi and South Africa.
Related:
12.2 Development of palliative care clinical practice guidelines and referral care pathways for primary care practitioners in Pakistan,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 1 May 2024. Full text
12.3 ‘Joint position statement between Indian Association of Palliative Care and Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine: A collaborative effort to expand primary palliative care throughout the country,’ Indian Journal of Community Medicine (India). Accessed 26 April 2024. Full text
12.4 ‘Emotional experiences in palliative care and professional quality of life: A qualitative approach,’ Palliative Care & Social Practice (Ecuador). Posted online 25 April 2024. Full text
12.5 ‘Missed opportunity to diagnose palliative care need among older emergency department patients in a middle-income country: A retrospective study,’ Open access Emergency Medicine (Thailand). Posted online 17 April 2024. Full text
12.6 ‘Global assessment of palliative care need: Serious health-related suffering measurement methodology,’ Journal of Pain & Symptom Management. Posted online 16 April 2024. Abstract (w. intro., section snippets, refs., etc.)
N.B. Contributing authors from China, India, Jamaica, Mexico and Rwanda.
12.7 ‘A mixed-methods systematic review investigating the use of digital health interventions to provide palliative and end-of-life care for patients in low- and middle-income countries,’ Palliative Care & Social Practice. Posted online 12 April 2024. Full text
N.B. Contributing authors from Sri Lanka.
12.8 ‘Impact of training on knowledge, confidence and attitude amongst community health volunteers in the provision of community-based palliative care in rural Kenya,’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 11 April 2024. Full text
Research (Protocol): ‘Palliative care needs of people and/or their families with serious and/or chronic health conditions in low- or middle-income country humanitarian settings: A systematic scoping review protocol,’ Systematic Reviews (U.K.). Posted online 11 April 2024. Full text
News Media Reports of Interest: ‘Is China ready for hospice care?’ Sixth Tone, 1 May 2024; ‘Cancer patients in Uzbekistan dying for want of palliative care,’ The Times of Central Asia, 9 April 2024.
Hospital & Community-Based Palliative Care Multidisciplinary Teams
Related:
13.2 ‘Stress factors for the paediatric and adult palliative care multidisciplinary team and workplace wellbeing solutions,’ Healthcare (Romania). Posted online 23 April 2024. Full text
Care Planning & Serious Illness Conversations
Related:
14.2 ‘Exploring the role of nurses in advance care planning within long-term care homes: A qualitative study,’ Sage Open Nursing (Canada). Posted online 29 April 2024. Full text
14.3 ‘“They must have seen it, you know.” Body talk, extension talk, and action talk: A qualitative study on how palliative care patients and their significant others express experiencing these non-verbal cues,’ Plos One (Sweden). Posted online 17 April 2024. Full text
14.4 ‘Goals-of-care among patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers in the last years of life,’ JAMA Open Network (Singapore). Posted online 11 April 2024. Full text
14.5 ‘“It’s not making a decision, it’s prompting the discussions”: A qualitative study exploring stakeholders’ views on the acceptability and feasibility of advance research planning...,’ Research Square (U.K.). Posted online 9 April 2024. Full text
N.B. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal.
14.6 ‘Communication in palliative care and about end of life: A state-of-the-art literature review of conversation-analytic research in healthcare,’ Research on Language & Social Interaction (U.K.). Posted online 3 April 2024. Full text
Oncology
Related:
15.2 ‘Oncology social workers’ involvement in palliative care: Secondary data analysis from nationwide oncology social workers survey,’ Palliative & Supportive Care (U.S.). Posted online 24 April 2024. Full text
Neuropalliative Care
N.B. Contributing authors from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, The Netherlands, Portugal, and U.K.: ‘2024 Alzheimer's Disease Facts & Figures,’ Alzheimer’s Association (U.S.), May 2024.
Related:
16.2 ‘Future policy and research for advance care planning in dementia: Consensus recommendations from an international Delphi panel of the European Association for Palliative Care,’ The Lancet: Healthy Longevity). Posted online 9 April 2024. Full text
16.3 ‘Winners, losers or ties? What game theory contributes to analysing a care network for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A pilot project with a mixed-method approach,’ Research Square (Germany). Posted online 9 April 2024. Full text
N.B. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal.
Website Posting of Interest: ‘Advance care planning in dementia: Announcing the EAPC task force’s second white paper,’ European Association for Palliative Care, 6 May 2024.
End-of-Life Care Behind Bars
N.B. ‘End-of-Life Care in the Prison Environment,’ a “backgrounder,” dated 1 August 2022, can be downloaded from the Palliative Care Network website. Supplements #1, #2 & #3 (July, September, November 2023) can be downloaded. Supplements #4, #5 & #6 (January, March, May 2024) can be downloaded.
Aged, Long-Term & Residential Care
Related:
18.2 ‘The epidemiology of dying within 48 hours of presentation to emergency departments: A retrospective cohort study of older people across Australia and New Zealand,’ Age & Ageing. Posted online 9 April 2024. strong>Fulltrong> https://bit.ly/49Q3MD7
News Media Report of Interest: ‘Demand for palliative care services expected to surge as number of Australians aged over 85 grows,’ ABC News (Australia), 14 April 2024: https://bit.ly/3xWHsdw
Intensive Care Unit
Related:
19.2 ‘Palliative care clinicians’ views on metrics for successful specialist palliative care delivery in the ICU,’ Journal of Pain & Symptom Management (U.S.). Posted online 15 April 2024. Abstract (w. intro., section snippets, refs., etc.)
19.3 ‘Variations in reporting of nurse involvement in end-of-life practices in intensive care units worldwide (ETHICUS-2): A prospective observational study,’ International Journal of Nursing Studies. Posted online 11 April 2024. Abstract (w. intro., section snippets, refs., etc.)
N.B. Contributing authors from Canada, Israel, France, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and U.S.
Quality of Palliative & End-of-Life Care
Related:
20.2.‘Quality of palliative and end-of-life care: A quantitative study of temporal trends and differences according to illness trajectories in Quebec (Canada),’ BMC Palliative Care. Posted online 10 April 2024. Full text
Europe
Related:
1.2 ‘How much do we really value end-of-life care?,’ University of Birmingham (U.K.), 23 April 2024.
1.3 ‘Hospice sector facing collective deficit of £77million,’ Hospice UK (U.K.), 15 April 2024.
North America
Europe
North America