In this Forum article, the authors describe the ‘Small Steps, Big Vision Grab and Go Guide’ with its focus on children and young adults Authors: Holly Smith, Acting Matron – Children & Young Adults Service St Oswald’s Hospice Gosforth Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 1EE UK, Diane Nicholson, Sister, Children and Young Adults St Oswald’s Hospice […]
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3 years in
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 Why every hospital deserves a ward for Palliative Care In December 2022 I wrote about our palliative care ward 1– it was just one year old at the time. When I […]
International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference Newsletter – Summer 2024
BMJ SPC Forum, in partnership with the International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference, Japan, co-publishes its seasonal Newsletter in the BMJ SPC Forum The following is from the Summer issue of the International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer Newsletter that was published in July 2024 for […]
10 Golden rules of palliative care on how to manage a dying person – you’ll never guess number 4!
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 If you prescribe midazolam 5 mg routinely for terminal agitation then you are wrong. Do say – try to use a dose that works first time. Don’t say – but […]
The ink is dry
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 Stop writing cries the invigilator Your time is done. Too much, never enough, Time once so immutable a concept Solid as air Softly blowing a breeze when A hurricane hits Moments […]
I have rather unusual feelings about death. I find it beautiful.
I didn’t think it strange, growing up around such a perspective. My mother insisted, when I was preschool age, she would want to die if she were severely disabled. We were at the shopping mall, looking for shoes. She said it as breezily as if asking, “Would you like an ice cream?” True to form, […]
IRS-SCPSC / NEWSLETTER – SPRING 2024
BMJ SPC Forum, in partnership with the International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference, Japan, co-publishes the seasonal Newsletter The following is from the Spring issue of the International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer Newsletter that was published in April 2024 for IRS-SCPSC members. To view the […]
Prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDoC): Challenges for hospice staff
Authors: Prof Nikki Pease, Consultant Palliative Medicine, Velindre NHS Trust Dr Siwan Seaman, Medical Director and Consultant, Marie Curie Hospice Cardiff and the Vale Clare Elwell. Clare’s husband was in a Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness and received end-of-life care following a best interests decision to discontinue CANH Prof Jenny Kitzinger, Professor of Communications Research, Coma & […]
Meet the Editors: Mark Taubert
As part of a new series, we will feature some of the people who work for BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. Meet the Editors: Professor Mark Taubert Hello Mark, where do you work? I work at Velindre University NHS Trust in Cardiff, for the cancer hospital and also University Hospital Llandough as a […]
Stories Worth Telling, Stories Worth Hearing. The Pursuit of Life: The Promise and Challenge of Palliative Care (Penn State Press, 2023)
After moving from Seattle to Dallas in 2015 to teach at Southern Methodist University, I decided to do something, well, important with some leftover funds. With a history of searing headaches, I wanted to introduce ancient authors who wrote in unvarnished ways about pain to modern medical practitioners who labor to palliate pain. People told […]