There is a growing number of people who need access to high-quality endof-life care in the home setting. This requires timely assessments of needs, ensuring good symptom management and recognising the roles undertaken by carers. For some patients, a range of medications may need to be put in place to relieve end-of-life symptoms, using ‘anticipatory prescribing’. District nurses must ensure that they acknowledge the patient's voiced preferences and be mindful of the safety issues that arise with the supply of controlled drugs in the home. This article highlights the challenges faced by district nurses providing or dealing with anticipatory prescribing during end-of-life care. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a two‐session multicomponent family strengths‐ oriented therapeutic conversation intervention among family caregivers of an individual with advanced/final stage cancer during ongoing palliative home‐care.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
What nurses in their thousands told our third annual Nursing Standard-Marie Curie poll on end of life care provision
Almost two thirds (65%) of nurses say staffing shortages are the main barrier to providing good care to dying patients, an exclusive survey by Nursing Standard and Marie Curie reveals. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Open access. Dying in one’s preferred place is a quality marker for end-of-life care. Little is known about preferred place of death, or the factors associated with achieving this, for people with dementia.
Nutritional problems often manifest during late-stage dementia, and some families may request to instigate artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) therapies. In the US, an estimated one-third of nursing home patients with a severe cognitive impairment have artificial feeding tubes inserted. Fear that a relative could experience extreme hunger or thirst if they are not mechanically fed tends to be the main driver behind family's requests to implement artificial or enteral feeding methods. In contrast, artificial hydration is rarely given to older people with dementia in the UK and this practice of non-intervention tends to apply across all healthcare and hospice type environments. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Around 80% of hospital patients will have swallowing difficulties in the last 72 hours of life, so the trust that runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals has introduced an alternative to nil by mouth which improves both patient experience, and allows loved ones to be involved in their care.
‘Taste for Pleasure’ means that when receiving end of life mouth care (cleaning and hydrating the mouth), hospital staff at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford (PRH), can use the patient’s favourite flavours to provide moisture. These flavours can be anything from blackcurrant squash to tea, all the way up to whiskey!
Conversations about end of life choices can be difficult. However, a Staffordshire GP wants us to have these conversations to make sure we are all prepared for when someone dies.
As part of Dying Matters Week (13-19 May 2019), the NHS in Staffordshire is encouraging people to plan ahead and start a conversation with family members. By planning in advance, less pressure will be placed on loved ones at the end of someone’s life.
An e-book aimed at helping people find better ways to manage bereavement has been updated and republished with the help of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’s End of Life Care team.
Jules Lewis, End of Life Care Facilitator, and Jules Lock, End of Life Care Lead Volunteer, have teamed up with Roy Lilley, founder of the Academy of Fabulous Stuff, to update ‘Bereavement – A Practical Guide for NHS Managers’ for a contemporary audience. The new text includes ‘101 questions about bereavement’ to challenge, make us think and develop better plans.
Open access. Increasing attention to palliative care for the general population has led to the development of various evidence-based or consensus-based tools and interventions. However, specific tools and interventions are needed for people with severe mental illness (SMI) who have a life-threatening illness. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the scientific evidence on tools and interventions in palliative care for this group.
This literature review aimed to answer the focus question: are district nurses well placed to provide equitable end of life care (EOL) for homeless individuals? It focused on 10 primary research studies, from which two themes emerged and subsequently formed the basis of the discussion... To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Person-centred palliative care poses high demands on professionals and patients regarding appropriate and effective communication and informed decision-making. This is even more so for patients with limited health literacy, as they lack the necessary skills to find, understand and apply information about their health and healthcare. Recognizing patients with limited health literacy and adapting the communication, information provision and decision-making process to their skills and needs is essential to achieve desired person-centred palliative care. Open Access Article