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When treatment options dwindle or are exhausted, terminally ill patients often opt for pain management and comfort over life-extending therapies. However, researchers report that a lack of thorough understanding about the laws governing end-of-life care might leave providers with an ethical dilemma and cause some terminally ill patients considerable, unnecessary pain.
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Intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) allows patients to control their own pain medication, but a new study published in the December 2008 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety shows that errors related to this practice are four times more likely to result in patient harm than errors that occur with other medications.
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The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) have created the advanced certified hospice and palliative social worker credential (ACHP-SW).
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The annual number of patients discharged from U.S. community hospitals to home health care rose 53% between 1997 and 2006, while the number discharged to long-term care and other facilities rose 30%, according to a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a notice to update the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) for calendar year 2009.
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Historically, all febrile infants younger than 90 days of age were aggressively evaluated and treated with empiric antibiotics until culture results were available. Although this approach ensured the highest level of sensitivity in the detection of serious bacterial infection (SBI), such evaluations were time- and labor-intensive, and created a risk for unnecessary adverse reactions to medications.
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White coat hypertension and Type 2 diabetes; Vitamin K and insulin resistance; Aspirin for all? Not so fast; Non-fasting triglycerides and risk of stroke; ACE/CCB or ACE/HCTZ for HTN: Which is better?; Putting sunscreen to the test
