Comment: Reflections on the work of the EAPC: enlightening and practical
Sheila Payne
pp 109-109
The work of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) should be enlightening, aiming to increase high-quality scientific knowledge and evidence to guide service development, support advocacy and underpin policy changes. It should also be practical, offering useful information and recommendations to promote education, clinical care and service innovations.
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Detecting pain or distress in people with dementia: an appraisal of two strategies
Jenny T van der Steen, Claud Regnard, Ladislav Volicer, Nele J A Van den Noortgate and Elizabeth L Sampson
pp 110-113
What is the best approach to recognise pain or distress in people with dementia who cannot express themselves verbally? Jenny T van der Steen, Claud Regnard, Ladislav Volicer, Nele J A Van den Noortgate and Elizabeth L Sampson have critically appraised two assessment tools: the pain tool PAINAD and the distress documentation tool DisDAT.
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Identifying palliative and end-of-life care research priorities: a UK approach to consult end users
Rhiannon Smith, Sabine Best and Bill Noble
pp 114-117
The Palliative and end of life care Priority Setting Partnership (PeolcPSP) was launched in 2013 to ask patients, carers and clinicians what the most important unanswered research questions are. The PeolcPSP has now made public a list of ten top research priorities, as Rhiannon Smith, Sabine Best and Bill Noble explain.
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Book review: Palliative Care in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – From Diagnosis to Bereavement, 3rd edn
Charlotte Adams
pp 117-117
A colleague of mine who saw this book on my desk said ‘I didn’t realise there was so much to write about on this subject’. This was an excellent baseline, as reading this book soon makes you realise that there is ‘so much’ – and more – to the subject of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis than one might think.
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Case study masterclass 80: Addressing the needs of a 67-year-old woman with vulval cancer and ‘total pain’
Katherine Bevan
pp 118-119
Jane is 67 and has lived alone in a village for all of her adult life. She never married and has no children. She has a younger sister, Sandra, who is 65 years old and lives with her husband in a small town 15 miles away, but they are not in regular contact.
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Case study masterclass 79 answers: Supporting a young man with acute myeloid leukaemia and his family
Stephanie Shayler
pp 120-120
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What you told us about the EJPC
pp 121-121
Last year we ran a survey among readers of the European Journal of Palliative Care to help us gauge how the journal is used and valued. Many thanks to those of you who have shared their views with us. Here are some of the results.
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Opioid prescribing in advanced cancer: audit of practice in a UK hospital
Samiah Awan and Andrew Dickman
pp 122-125
How well do UK hospitals manage the prescribing of strong opioids in patients with advanced cancer? Do they comply with official recommendations? Samiah Awan and Andrew Dickman have audited opioid prescription practice across the medical and surgical wards at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
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A palliative care outreach programme for patients with respiratory disease
Lisa Makey and Andrew Hiskett
pp 126-129
Keech Hospice Care has set up a programme aimed at helping patients with chronic lung disease to access palliative care. Lisa Makey and Andrew Hiskett show how it has improved patients’ quality of life and reduced their fear of engaging with hospices.
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Delivering spiritual care: a resource to train hospice staff in New Zealand
Anne Morgan, Rod MacLeod, Mary Schumacher and Richard Egan
pp 130-132
Anne Morgan, Rod MacLeod, Mary Schumacher and Richard Egan describe how an educational programme was developed in New Zealand for the wider hospice team aimed at improving staff’s understanding and knowledge of spirituality and spiritual care. One of its differences is that it incorporates the Maori world view.
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I can be a nurse, and I am
Laura-Jayne Wilcock
pp 134-135
Laura-Jayne Wilcock was born without some of her fingers and toes due to amniotic band syndrome. She explains how she became a nurse despite the ill-informed views of an occupational health therapist, and how she came to work in palliative care.
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Book review: Psychopharmacology in Oncology and Palliative Care – A Practical Manual
Jamie Pick
pp 135-135
For the purposes of this review, I should point out right at the start that the title of this book may not do it justice. This is much more than a practical prescribing manual.
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End-of-life care for cystic fibrosis patients – part 2
Julia Nightingale and Irfan Shafiq
pp 136-140
From lung transplantation to advance care planning, from symptom control to place of death, Julia Nightingale and Irfan Shafiq review the key issues arising for respiratory physicians when caring for patients suffering from cystic fibrosis. This is the second part of their paper, after Part 1 published in the previous issue.
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Palliative care as a human right: what has the Prague Charter achieved?
Esther Schmidlin and David Oliver
pp 141-143
The Prague Charter was launched in 2013 to urge governments worldwide to put more efforts into developing or improving palliative care, including widening patient access to pain medication. Esther Schmidlin and David Oliver explain how the Charter has been used so far, and how it will continue to serve as a powerful advocay tool.
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Advance care planning in a UK hospice: the experiences of trained volunteers
Penny Jones, Kate Heaps, Carla Rattigan and Di Marks-Maran
pp 144-151
Penny Jones, Kate Heaps, Carla Rattigan and Di Marks-Maran report on a project at Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice in London, where volunteers were recruited and trained to help people with life-limiting disease develop an advance care plan.
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Book review: Psychosocial Palliative Care
Christian Hosker
pp 151-151
This is a concise, almost pocket-size volume authored by two psychiatrists based in the USA, Professor William Breitbart and Assistant Professor Yesne Alici. Many readers of this journal will know Professor Breitbart, who has published extensively in the field of palliative care psychiatry and psycho-oncology.
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EAPC Board elections 2015: calling our members to vote
Julie Ling
pp 152-152
A new Board of Directors of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) will be elected for four years during the Copenhagen Congress in May. Julie Ling, EAPC Chief Executive Officer since January, explains about the election and invites members to cast their vote.
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European insight: Palliative care in Denmark: two decades of rapid improvement … and still some way to go
Bodil Abild Jespersen, Tove Vejlgaard and Per Sjøgren
pp 153-155
Since the 1990s, Denmark has made laudable progress in palliative care service provision and has become an important platform for palliative care research and education. Some areas still need improving though, such as palliative care for children and non-cancer patients.
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