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"Countries around the world expend substantial resources to relieve the suffering caused by the burden of disease," writes Rosemary Gibson, MSc, in an editorial accompanying three articles examining health care at the end of life posted online that will be published in the Feb. 14, 2011, print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
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More than half of men dying of prostate cancer use hospice care, which is a significant increase over the last two decades; however, most wait too long to enroll so they can't take full advantage of the palliative care that could make their deaths easier, a study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found.
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In a review article published in the October issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic physicians differentiate the ethical and legal permissibility of withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments and accepted comfort measures, specifically palliative sedation, from that of physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia.
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While both black patients and white patients appear to benefit from end of life discussions with their physician, black patients are less likely to experience end-of-life care that accurately reflects their preferences, according to a report in the Sept. 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine
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Cancer patients who stop hospice care are far more likely to use expensive medical services, such as emergency care and hospitalization. Use of these services leads to healthcare costs that are nearly five times higher for patients who disenroll from hospice care compared to patients who remain in hospice, according to a study published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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An estimated 41.6% of all people who died in the United States last year were under the care of a hospice program, according to the latest "Facts and Figures: Hospice Care in America" report produced by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in Alexandria, VA. This statistic represents an increase over previous years: 38.8% in 2008 and 35% in 2007.
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A proposed federal action plan is targeting influenza vaccination of health care workers, and occupational health physicians will be represented on the working group that is considering new recommendations including possible mandates.
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To keep young, vulnerable patients safe from a potentially life-threatening disease, the University of North Carolina Health Care in Chapel Hill requires employees to have a vaccine that protects against a respiratory illness.
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Editor's note: In this issue, we continue our special report on needle safety issues. Safety needles are now commonplace at hospitals around the country, but sharps injuries persist both from conventional and safety devices. The problem may lie in selection of the device, inadequate training or, as in the OR, in resistance to sharps safety advances.
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As the nation's population ages, a growing number of registered nurses, certified nursing assistants and nurses' aides will be working in patients' homes rather than in hospitals. But many of them will be working without the basic safety devices that most nurses now take for granted, safety experts say.
