Abstract
Letter to the Editor
Dementia Relationship Dissonance (DRD)—a new concept to capture the emotional rupture in dementia care relationships. (page 1004)
Brief Report
In this study, authors asked three chatbots—ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing to define “terminally ill,” “end-of-life,” “transition of care,” and “actively dying” and examined the accuracy, comprehensiveness, readability, and credibility of their outputs. (page 1102)
Fast Facts
Disease-Modifying Treatment Considerations in Patients at the End of Life with Rheumatic Diseases #506. (page 1121)
Hospice Continuous Home Care #507. (page 1123)
Personal Reflection
When shared decision making and quality education take place in a multidisciplinary fashion with the patient and their family, surgery can be used just before entrance into hospice care to improve that hospice time when appropriate. In a broader sense, I learned that the choice of whether to do surgery has a lot of “gray areas.” (page 1125)
Case Discussions
Authors present a case report on consumer contribution in the design and conduct of a Phase I/IIb medicinal cannabis clinical trial for anorexia in people with advanced cancer. (page 1128)
Book and Media
(page 1134)
Original Article Key Points
Research participation can provide bereaved parents/caregivers with therapeutic benefits, including opportunities for self-expression, honoring their child’s legacy, and helping others. Trauma-informed, flexible, and participant-centered research designs are essential to minimize harm, enhance benefits, and inform evidence-based, family-centered palliative care and bereavement services. (page 1013)
In a single institution outpatient pediatric palliative care clinic, patients/families reported improvement across multiple symptom domains after initiating medical cannabis with low risk of reported side effects. There was a decrease in inpatient general care floor admission days in the year following medical cannabis initiation. (page 1020)
Assisted living residents in Medicaid-supported settings face critical gaps in medical and social care. Residents experience high symptom burden and persistent unmet needs, further complicated by fragmented health care access. The study emphasizes the urgent need for programs that improve communication and provide medical and social care in under-resourced settings. (page 1029)
Utilization of compatibility data for morphine, oxycodone, fentanyl, and hydromorphone in clinical practice should help guide safer drug administration and influence the selection of intravenous combinations in palliative care settings. (page 1038)
This article examines the patient experience of those with advanced solid tumors receiving treatment in the era of novel therapies. Results indicate high Quality of Life and awareness of Palliative Care (PC) among patients with advanced cancer, but persistent underuse of PC services. Integrated PC fosters Advance Care Planning discussions among patients and caregivers. (page 1050)
The Chinese-translated Quality of Death and Dying Index is a robust, validated tool for assessing the quality of end-of-life care for patients among palliative care professionals. It provides critical insights for improving care delivery and guiding policy in China’s aging society, addressing the urgent need for culturally relevant measures to enhance palliative and hospice care nationwide. (page 1061)
As Medicare Advantage enrollment increases, measures are needed to monitor the quality of end-of-life care across settings. Quality measures derived from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems End-of-Life Care Survey allow for a reliable assessment of key aspects of end-of-life care, including consistency of care with patient preferences and help for symptoms. (page 1071)
Given the current financial pressures on provider systems and the national imperative to improve care, experience, and cost, this study tests a collaborative method between payors and providers to build a sustainable palliative program. This approach improved the quality of care for patients and reduced costs. (page 1079)