AN ANNOTATED LIST OF RECENT ARTICLES ABOUT PALLIATIVE CARE IN THE NEWS MEDIA AND THE LITERATURE
Media Watch is intended as an advocacy and research tool. The weekly report, published by Barry R. Ashpole, a Canadian communications consultant and educator, monitors the literature and the lay press on issues specific to the quality of end-of-life care. It is international in scope and distribution. Each month, this section of the IAHPC Newsletter will publish an abstract or summary of an article or report of special interest noted in a recent issue of Media Watch (see below).
Gerontologist | Online – 31 December 2013 – Little is known about family caregivers who are also geriatrics health care professionals. This study examines the dual roles of such professionals, the impact of their geriatrics expertise on the care of family members, and the influence of those caregiver experiences on their clinical practice. The authors found three major themes: a) dual role advantages and disadvantages; b) emotional impact of dual roles; and, c) professional impact of family caregiving. Geriatrics expertise provided both advantages and disadvantages in caring for their older family members. Although their expertise introduced a significant emotional intensity to their personal caregiving experiences, those experiences positively influenced their professional insight, empathy, and advocacy for the caregivers of their own patients.
Progress in Palliative Care | Online – Accessed 8 January 2014 – There is a wide gap between knowledge about palliative care and its application in everyday clinical practice, affecting many patients in our ageing population. However, changing health care practice is a complex and challenging process. Therefore, the European Union funded IMplementation of quality indicators in PAlliative Care sTudy (IMPACT) project aims to develop optimal implementation strategies to improve the organization of palliative care for people with cancer or with dementia in Europe.
Global Journal of Health Science, 2014;6(2):128. While medical ethics place a high value on providing truthful information to patients, disclosure practices are far from being the norm in many countries. Transmitting bad news still remains a big problem that health care professionals face in their everyday clinical practice. Various electronic databases were searched by the authors and through systematic selection 51 scientific articles were identified. There are many parameters that lead to the concealment of truth. Factors related to doctors, patients and their close environment, still maintain a strong resistance against disclosure of diagnosis and prognosis in terminally ill patients, while cultural influences lead to different approaches in various countries. Withholding the truth is mainly based in the fear of causing despair to patients. However, fostering a spurious hope, hides the danger of its total loss, while it can disturb patient-doctor relationship.
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