Palliative Care Matters - pallcare.info

Palliative Care Matters

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Book of the Moment

Death Angel: The Journey of a Hospice Chaplain

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Palliative Medicine Handbook on-line!

The Palliative Medicine Handbook 3rd ed. is available on-line at book.pallcare.info

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Welcome to Palliative Care Matters

Palliative Care Matters is a website intended for health-care professionals working in palliative care or related fields. You are welcome to visit the pages as a Guest, but please consider registering, as this will bring several advantages.

An important feature of the site allows you, as a registered user, to automatically identify new items that have been added since your last visit. If you also register your profession and home country, several of the pages will show quick menu links to items most likely to interest you.

The site is being continuously developed. Please let me know if you come acrosss any problems or 'bugs'; also, any feedback, comments or suggestions are always welcome at Contact

News & Announcements...

Advice from the Nursing and Midwifery Council on mixing drugs in palliative care
Monday 18th August
The NMC has issued advice to Independent Nurse Prescribers on mixing drugs in palliative care. “Independent Nurse Prescribers are not authorised to prescribe a mixture of licensed medication for administration via, for example, a syringe driver. Whilst the medications they are prescribing are individually licensed for administration, if they require mixing, this alters the properties of the medication and renders it an unlicensed one.” Read the NMC report...
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"Methadone Rises as a Painkiller With Big Risks"
Monday 18th August
An article in the New York Tomes highlights the increased use - and risks - of methadone as a painkiller. Read the article...
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End of Life Care Strategy announced
Wednesday 16th July
England's End of Life Care Strategy was announced today by Health Secretary Alan Johnson. The report, entitled "Promoting high quality care for all adults at the end of life" is available on the EOLC website
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LCP guidelines for Drug Prescribing in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease
Monday 23rd June
The National Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) Renal Steering Group has published guidelines for drug prescribing in advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). These guidelines are to ensure best practice in the care of patients with CKD during the last weeks or days of their lives.
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Physician assisted suicide in Oregon - report on first decade
Sunday 11th May
There is an excellent objective review of the first decade of PAS in Oregon published in American Medical News, the newspaper of the American Medical Association. It starts "The first decade of Oregon's unique law has surprised supporters and opponents alike. One benefit nearly everyone can welcome: The issue focused attention on end-of-life care." Read the original article...
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Guidelines for long-term neurological conditions
Friday 2nd May
These guidelines build on the Quality Requirements in the National Service Framework for Long-term (Neurological) Conditions (LTNCs) to explore the interaction between specialist neurology, rehabilitation and palliative care services, and how they may best work together to provide long-term support for people with LTNCs and the family members who care for them. The guidelines also provide practical advice for clinicians when caring for someone with an LTNC, as well as outlining indications for specialist referral.
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Awake! A Music CD of End-of-Life songs
Friday 2nd May
A palliative care nurse, has written and recorded a collection of folk-country music songs about end-of-life issues. He writes "This is a musical experiment by a creative nurse who hopes to expose and maybe change our attitudes about end of life. Steve Price has been a registered nurse for 25 years. He now works as a palliative care nurse. His experiences have inspired him to write his first CD."
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Advance Care Planning on YouTube!
Monday 28th April
A ICU Nurse and some colleagues have rewritten the lyrics to the popular song "Rockstar", to emphasize how some patients may feel in the ICU. For a light-hearted look at ACP see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVx2mjjBvis For an alternative method of getting your message across, Mary Wohlford of Dyersville, Iowa, had her last wishes of "Do Not Resuscitate" tattooed on her chest. NB Such non-standard directives may not be legally binding! (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1003254)
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Palliative Care Services: meeting the needs of patients
Friday 28th March
A new report from the Royal College of Physicians says that all patients who are suffering and dying should have the opportunity for a good death, with management of symptoms and psychological social and spiritual support. Yet the report highlights that access to palliative care services is inadequate and inequitable, with unacceptable variations in care geographically, across different demographic groups and patients with different illnesses and needs. There is particular disparity between patients with cancer and those suffering from non-malignant conditions. The best care is excellent, the worst may be non-existent.
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MHRA issues concept paper on the review of the regulation of unlicensed medicine
Friday 28th March
The MHRA has published an informal consultation paper which seeks the views of stakeholders on the current arrangements in the UK for regulation of unlicensed medicines and the rationale for reviewing those arrangements. The deadline for comments is 30 June 2008. Read more...
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Random Web Link

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day

(www.worldday.org)

The first World Hospice and Palliative Care Day will take place on Saturday October 8th 2005.

Advice from the Nursing and Midwifery Council on mixing drugs in palliative care

"Methadone Rises as a Painkiller With Big Risks"

End of Life Care Strategy announced

LCP guidelines for Drug Prescribing in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease

Physician assisted suicide in Oregon - report on first decade

Guidelines for long-term neurological conditions

Awake! A Music CD of End-of-Life songs

Advance Care Planning on YouTube!

Palliative Care Services: meeting the needs of patients

MHRA issues concept paper on the review of the regulation of unlicensed medicine