Article
Ethics
Anessa M. Foxwell, Salimah H. Meghani, Connie M. Ulrich
Summary: The study reveals that clinicians may experience distress when caring for seriously ill patients, including factors such as conflict, emotional recognition, and mismatch in behavior values. The research highlights three unique contributions to understanding clinician distress and emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's perceptions and emotional reactions in mitigating distress.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Lauren Treat, Robert Macauley
Summary: Pediatric palliative care teams collaborate to improve the quality of life for seriously ill children based on the values of the patient and family. The case of an infant with a severe brain malformation highlights the cultural and ethical challenges faced by medical teams in providing patient-centered care that respects family values.
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Karleen F. Giannitrapani, Marzena Sasnal, Matthew Mccaa, Adela Wu, Arden M. Morris, Natalie B. Connell, Rebecca A. Aslakson, Yael Schenker, Scott Shreve, Karl A. Lorenz
Summary: This study identifies four strategies to improve palliative care integration and goals of care conversations in the perioperative period for seriously ill Veterans, including building collaborative relationships, establishing risk assessment processes, involving both PC providers and surgeons at the appropriate time, and providing sufficient resources for interdisciplinary care sharing.
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Muhammad Abbas, Amanda Jane Reich, Yihan Wang, Frances Y. Hu, Evan Bollens-Lund, Amy S. Kelley, Zara Cooper
Summary: This study found that older adults with serious illness have a high prevalence of pain, depression, and unpaid caregiving hours before trauma admission, based on the analysis of Health and Retirement Study data. These findings may guide targeted palliative care interventions to reduce symptom burden and post-discharge healthcare utilization.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Urology & Nephrology
Louis H. Diamond, Nancy C. Armistead, Dale E. Lupu, Alvin H. Moss
Summary: The article advocates for providing supportive care for patients with kidney disease, promoting a more patient-centered care approach, and emphasizes the need for urgent policy changes to improve the quality of life for patients.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF KIDNEY DISEASES
(2021)
Review
Nursing
Anu Soikkeli-Jalonen, Kaisa Mishina, Heli Virtanen, Andreas Charalambous, Elina Haavisto
Summary: This systematic review identified a limited number of supportive interventions for family members of very seriously ill patients in inpatient care. Mindfulness- and therapy-based interventions, as well as multiple-session tailored interventions, showed positive effects on psychological symptoms and preparedness. Further research on the feasibility and effectiveness of supportive interventions is essential.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING
(2021)
Article
Nursing
Komal P. Murali, Gary Yu, John D. Merriman, Allison Vorderstrasse, Amy S. Kelley, Abraham A. Brody
Summary: This study used latent class analysis to identify subgroups of seriously ill older adults receiving palliative care based on comorbidity burden and mortality risk. The findings showed distinct subgroups with different combinations of chronic conditions.
WESTERN JOURNAL OF NURSING RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Oncology
Stephen J. Stapleton, Brenda W. Dyal, Andrew D. Boyd, Marie L. Suarez, Miriam O. Ezenwa, Yingwei Yao, Diana J. Wilkie
Summary: This study found that adherence to analgesics for seriously ill patients with cancer pain was low. More than half of the participants were unsatisfied with their pain level and reported pain intensity exceeding their tolerance for a significant portion of the previous 24 hours. Dose intervals of less than 8 hours were associated with lower adherence rates.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Julien Cobert, Allyson C. Cook, Joseph A. Lin, David L. O'Riordan, Steven Z. Pantilat
Summary: This study evaluated the utilization and reasons for palliative care (PC) consultation. The results showed that PC referrals in ICU patients with cancer are decreasing, while those for cardiovascular disease are increasing. Reasons for referrals were primarily for goals of care and advance care planning.
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Oncology
Sara Taub, Robert Macauley
Summary: Pediatric palliative care differs from adult palliative care due to the higher likelihood of aggressive treatment and better survival rates for children with serious illness. Despite the benefits of early integration of palliative care for seriously ill patients, there are barriers that need to be addressed, including misconceptions and concerns about role confusion.
CURRENT PROBLEMS IN CANCER
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Jacqueline Vaughn, Donruedee Kamkhoad, Ryan J. Shaw, Sharron L. Docherty, Arvind P. Subramaniam, Nirmish Shah
Summary: This study explored perspectives on the use of data visualizations, identifying key features preferred by seriously ill children, their parents, and clinicians in visualizing symptom data obtained from mobile health technologies. Results indicated that pediatric and parent participants emphasized increased symptom awareness, communication, and interpretability in symptom visualizations. Clinicians favored pie charts and simple bar charts for ease of interpretation and communication, expressing a preference for viewing symptom visualizations in the electronic health record.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS ASSOCIATION
(2021)
Article
Nursing
Sanghee Kim, Arum Lim, Hyoeun Jang, Misun Jeon
Summary: This study aimed to explore the current status of life-sustaining treatment decisions in a tertiary hospital in Korea and found that the majority of these decisions were made by family members instead of patients, and they were often made when the patients were near death. The study also highlighted the importance of improving the decision-making process for life-sustaining treatment.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING
(2023)
Article
Pediatrics
Aleksandra E. Olszewski, Jori Bogetz, Amanda Mercer, Miranda C. Bradford, Maya Scott, Blanca Fields, Kelli Williams, Abby R. Rosenberg, Amy Trowbridge
Summary: This study analyzed transcripts of care conferences in pediatric patients and found that clinician empathy does not differ when language interpretation is used. Clinicians often miss opportunities to express empathy or bury it with medical talk. While unburied empathy creates opportunities for relationship-building and family-sharing, buried empathy negatively impacts these domains similarly to no empathic expression.
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Frances Y. Hu, Yihan Wang, Muhammad Abbas, Evan Bollens-Lund, Amanda J. Reich, Stuart R. Lipsitz, Tamryn F. Gray, Dae Kim, Christine Ritchie, Amy S. Kelley, Zara Cooper
Summary: This study examines the palliative care needs of older adults with serious illnesses before undergoing elective surgery. The findings show a high prevalence of unpaid caregiving, pain, and depression among these patients. Baseline depression is associated with discharge destinations, highlighting the potential for targeted interventions during the surgical encounter.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY
(2023)
Review
Health Care Sciences & Services
M. Pilar Ingle, Cristina Valdovinos, Kelsey L. Ford, Shou Zhou, Sheana Bull, Starlynne Gornail, Xuhong Zhang, Susan Moore, Jennifer Portz
Summary: This study aimed to identify and assess user perspectives of palliative care and end-of-life (PCEOL) portal tools available for patients and caregivers. A scoping review of academic literature identified 12 tools addressing PCEOL domains such as ethical or legal, physical, and psychological or psychiatric. While high user acceptability was reported, little attention was given to usability among older adults.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
(2021)
Editorial Material
Critical Care Medicine
J. Randall Curtis, Mitchell M. Levy
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE
(2022)
Editorial Material
Critical Care Medicine
Elizabeth Dzeng, Thomas Bein, J. Randall Curtis
INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE
(2022)
Editorial Material
Critical Care Medicine
J. Randall Curtis
INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Crystal E. Brown, J. Randall Curtis, Kemi M. Doll
Summary: Racial inequities in palliative and end-of-life care have been well-documented but often overlooked due to a lack of consideration for the effects of race and everyday racism. Public Health Critical Race Praxis provides a new approach for researchers to address racial disparities by broadening research priorities and developing race-conscious interventions.
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Alison M. Uyeda, J. Randall Curtis, Ruth A. Engelberg, Lyndia C. Brumback, Yue Guo, James Sibley, William B. Lober, Trevor Cohen, Janaki Torrence, Joanna Heywood, Sudiptho R. Paul, Erin K. Kross, Robert Y. Lee
Summary: This study compares three natural language processing (NLP) modeling approaches for identifying documentation of goals-of-care discussions in electronic health records (EHR). The results show that NLP holds promise for identifying EHR-documented goals-of-care discussions, although the rarity of such content limits the performance. The study also identifies opportunities to optimize NLP modeling approaches.
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Editorial Material
Critical Care Medicine
J. Randall Curtis, Irene J. Higginson, Douglas B. White
INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Jill M. Steiner, Andrea Corage Baden, Erin Abu-Rish Blakeney, Vea Freeman, Karen K. Stout, Abby R. Rosenberg, Ruth A. Engelberg, J. Randall Curtis
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic may increase the risk of worsened quality of life in patients with adult congenital heart disease. This study examined the impact of the pandemic on participants' self-perception and coping strategies, revealing changes in self-perception and limited access to usual coping strategies.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR NURSING
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Matthew E. Modes, Ruth A. Engelberg, Elizabeth L. Nielsen, Lyndia C. Brumback, Thanh H. Neville, Anne M. Walling, J. Randall Curtis, Erin K. Kross
Summary: This study examined the proportion of seriously ill patients whose prioritized healthcare goal is accurately perceived by their clinician and identified factors associated with accurate perception. The majority of seriously ill outpatients had their healthcare goal accurately perceived by their clinicians, but a substantial portion did not, which may put them at higher risk for goal-discordant care. Recent discussions about goals of care were associated with accurate perceptions of patients' prioritized goals.
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
J. Randall Curtis, Robert Y. Lee, Lyndia C. Brumback, Erin K. Kross, Lois Downey, Janaki Torrence, Joanna Heywood, Nicole LeDuc, Kasey Mallon Andrews, Jennifer Im, Bryan J. Weiner, Nita Khandelwal, Nauzley C. Adedini, Ruth A. Engelberg
Summary: This study aims to improve the quality and value of care for hospitalized older adults with serious illness through two complementary randomized trials and a hybrid effectiveness-implementation approach. Trial 1 assesses outcomes with the electronic health records, while Trial 2 examines patient or family-reported outcomes.
CONTEMPORARY CLINICAL TRIALS
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Alison M. Uyeda, Robert Y. Lee, Lauren R. Pollack, Sudiptho R. Paul, Lois Downey, Lyndia C. Brumback, Ruth A. Engelberg, James Sibley, William B. Lober, Trevor Cohen, Janaki Torrence, Erin K. Kross, J. Randall Curtis
Summary: This retrospective cohort study used natural language processing to examine the occurrence, predictors, and timing of electronic health record-documented goals-of-care discussions for hospitalized patients with serious illness. The study found that these discussions were more common among older patients, patients with comorbidities, and patients with cancer or dementia. However, racially or ethnically minoritized patients were less likely to have documented goals-of-care discussions.
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Crystal E. Brown, Jill M. Steiner, Peter J. Leary, J. Randall Curtis, Ruth A. Engelberg
Summary: This study assessed physicians' perspectives on barriers and facilitators to the use of palliative care in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients. The results showed that PAH physicians are willing to implement a tailored approach to individual patients and collaborate effectively with palliative care clinicians. However, there are still limitations posed by health systems.
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
J. Randall Curtis, Robert Y. Lee, Lyndia C. Brumback, Erin K. Kross, Lois Downey, Janaki Torrence, Nicole LeDuc, Kasey Mallon Andrews, Jennifer Im, Joanna Heywood, Crystal E. Brown, James Sibley, William B. Lober, Trevor Cohen, Bryan J. Weiner, Nita Khandelwal, Nauzley C. Abedini, Ruth A. Engelberg
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate a communication-priming intervention to promote goals-of-care discussions between clinicians and hospitalized older patients. The results showed that a higher proportion of patients in the intervention group had documented goals-of-care discussions within 30 days. The intervention had a greater effect on racially or ethnically minoritized patients.
JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Robert Y. Lee, Erin K. Kross, Janaki Torrence, Kevin S. Li, James Sibley, Trevor Cohen, William B. Lober, Ruth A. Engelberg, J. Randall Curtis
Summary: This study evaluates the use of natural language processing (NLP) to measure outcomes in a randomized clinical trial of a communication intervention for adults with serious illness. The findings suggest that NLP can effectively measure trial outcomes and save resources compared to manual data collection. Incorporating misclassification-adjusted power calculations into studies using NLP may be beneficial.
Article
Respiratory System
Sarah J. Hochendoner, Timothy H. Amass, J. Randall Curtis, Pamela Witt, Xingran Weng, Olubukola Toyobo, Daniella Lipnick, Priscilla Armstrong, Margaret Hope Cruse, Olivia Rea, Lauren J. Van Scoy
Summary: ICU visitation restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have caused psychological harm to family members of critically ill patients. Investment in communication infrastructure and following family-derived recommendations are needed to improve communication.
ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN THORACIC SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Urology & Nephrology
Susan P. Y. Wong, Taryn Oestreich, Bridgett Chandler, J. Randall Curtis
Summary: Human-centered design principles were utilized to develop a dedicated decision aid on conservative kidney management. Collaborative efforts with researchers, patients, family members, and clinicians led to iterative improvements in the decision aid, resulting in a comprehensive tool with detailed information and examples to support patients in making informed choices about their kidney management.