How palliative care can reduce healthcare costs &improve quality of care

The sustainability of the healthcare system has been in question for several years. With rising healthcare costs, limited resources and an aging population, society needs to come up with innovative ideas to reduce healthcare spending. This paper attempts to illustrate how addressing goals of care can have a significant impact on healthcare costs.

Difficult Conversations and Painful Decisions: When Should Patients with Progressive Cancer Stop Chemotherapy?

Introduction: The decision to stop anti-cancer treatment is fraught with many challenges for the oncologist, the patient, and their caregivers. This review examines the special considerations surrounding the decision to cease chemotherapy in terminally ill cancer patient. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted to find relevant publications on chemotherapy cessation. A total of 2700 records were retrieved and 141 were identified as eligible for inclusion in this review. Results: Palliative chemotherapy does not achieve the goal of tumor-related symptom reduction for patients who have experienced progressive disease with more than two prior lines of chemotherapy. ECOG performance status is a crucial predictor of response to therapy and chemotherapy-related complications. Challenges to stopping chemotherapy at the end of life are multifactorial and are both patient and physician-driven. Racial, ethnic, and income-based disparities are seen in the timing and quality of end-of-life conversations offered by physicians to their patients. Conclusions: The decision to cease chemotherapy is one that should be approached with careful consideration and accurate information. Clear communication, compassion and empathy are important components to the therapeutic relationship. Early involvement of palliative care and clear conversations about prognosis and the expected utility of further chemotherapy is essential to conduct the best possible care for cancer patients at the end of life.

社区专业姑息治疗团队对患者临终时住院、急诊以及选择在医院内死亡的影响：一项汇总分析

目的汇总11个开展家庭医疗服务的专业姑息治疗团队效应。设计进行一项回顾性队列研究的汇总分析。地点加拿大，安大略省。参与者3109名在2009-2011年接受专业姑息治疗团队医疗服务的患者（暴露组）及3109名在此期间接受常规医疗服务的患者（非暴露组）。干预措施虽然这些姑息治疗团队所在地区和规模不同，但包含了相同的核心团队成员和角色分配，即能够为患者在其家中提供综合姑息治疗的姑息治疗专科医师、护士和家庭医生，团队任务包括全天候的管理症状、给予医疗信息和治疗措施以及协调服务。主要结局测量指标患者（a）在死亡前最后2周在医院度过；（b）死亡前最后2周有过急诊；（c）在医院内死亡。结果暴露组和非暴露组中癌症患者约占80％，且78％患者接受临终家庭医疗护理服务的平均时间相同。在所有姑息治疗团队中，暴露组中分别有970（31．2％）和896（28．9％）名患者在生命最后2周住院治疗和有急诊经历，而在非暴露组，分别为1219（39．3％）和1070（34．5％）名患者（P〈0．001）。暴露组与非暴露组患者在生命终期住院和经历急诊的汇总相对危险度分别为0．68[95％可信区间（CI，0．61～0．76）]和0．77[95％CI（0．69～0．86）]。与非暴露组相比，暴露组患者选择院内死亡的更少[503（16．2％）比887（28．6％），P〈0．01]，且在医院内濒死的汇总相对危险度为0．46（0．40-0．52）。结论尽管社区专业姑息治疗团队的组成和地区不同，但均能有效降低患者临终时急诊及选择在医院内死亡比例。