Specialist Publications:
The influence of palliative care consultation on health-care resource utilization during the last two months of life: Report from an integrated palliative care program and review of the literature
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE MEDICINE | Online – 17 December 2016 – This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that palliative care consultation (PCC) was associated with reduced health care resource utilisation for individuals approaching end of life. 102 consecutive deaths of veterans were taken into consideration, of which PCC was associated with lower number of ICU days during the last two months of life. Frequency of ED visits, acute care hospitalisations, number of ICU and hospital days were significantly less for 96 veterans with PCC, as compared to before. https://goo.gl/yoOe8M
A personal journey in Taiwan’s hospice palliative care movement
BAOJ PALLIATIVE MEDICINE | Online – Accessed 8 February 2017 – Hospice palliative care started in Taiwan in 1990, with foundations of different religious backgrounds and associations with different medical backgrounds joining in to promote. This was followed by Hospice Palliative Care Act (a Natural Death Act) enacted in 2000 and Patient Self-Determination Act passed in 2016. A Taiwan Coma Scale was also proposed for shortening of terminal suffering. At present, Taiwan has 57 hospice wards, 93 hospitals providing hospice home care, 141 hospitals providing hospice combined care and 155 hospitals providing community hospice care. https://goo.gl/YbAb6B
Empathy, sympathy and compassion in healthcare: Is there a problem? Is there a difference? Does it matter?
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE, 2016;109(12):446-452. Empathy, sympathy and compassion are defined and conceptualised in different ways and they are used interchangeably in research reports and in everyday speech.They are also similar to other forms of pro-social behaviour such as generosity, kindness and patient-centredness. This paper argues that a broad concept of empathy, which combines affective, cognitive, behavioural and moral dimensions, is a more relevant and useful construct for clinical practice, medical research and education. https://goo.gl/E9byLi
Literature review of best health and social care practices for individuals with intellectual disabilities encountering the end of life
NURSING & PALLIATIVE CARE, 2016;1(5);118-123. This Literature Review (LR) aim to identify the best care practices for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) encountering end of life. Overall findings revealed that there was an absence of policies, procedures and guidelines governing these critical end-of-life care practices, including decision making processes. The LR also indicated inadequate collaborative, inter-agency and multi-professional working. It also noted an absence of theory and universal good practice guidance/framework on dying, death and intellctual disabilities and called for future research to be framed within the human rights approach. https://goo.gl/GHeJuq