Tens of millions of people worldwide are suffering in severe agony in their final days due to lack of access to pain medication, a Human Rights Watch report revealed. The report released this month is based on a survey of policy barriers to palliative care in 40 countries and an assessment of the availability of […]
Latest articles
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Articles of interest in other scholarly journals Click on the article headings to view the abstracts A comprehensive review of opioid-induced hyperalgesia Lee M, Silverman SM, Hansen H, Patel VB, Manchikanti L. Pain Physician 2011; 14:145-161 In this review of opioid-induced hyperalgesia, it is suggested that this phenomenon may result from neuroplastic changes in the […]
Integrating quantitative and qualitative methods – and getting it published
Bill Noble, BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, Editor-in-Chief Describing a study as ‘mixed method’ never felt very respectable or clever. For years we understood that finding the answer to questions about the value of parts of the health service required different kinds of data. The difficulty was knowing how best to put our findings together. […]
Should the law on assisted dying be changed?
The BMJ shines a spotlight on the assisted dying debate, with a ‘Head to Head’ article authored by Raymond Tallis, former professor of geriatric medicine (University of Manchester) and Kevin Fitzpatrick, researcher for UK campaign Not Dead Yet (7 May, 2011). Tallis argues that allowing terminally ill people to choose an assisted death is part […]
News and updates from palliativedrugs.com
Selected items from the News and Latest Additions sections of www.palliativedrugs.com the world’s leading palliative care website. Latest from the UK National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) NPSA Rapid Response Report on syringe drivers In response to over 160 error reports and eight deaths in the past 5 years, NPSA has issued a Rapid Response Report […]
New resource available for GPs caring for children with palliative care needs
A new, comprehensive handbook aimed at supporting GPs when a child with palliative care needs comes into their care, has been developed and made available for free download by UK charity ACT. The Children’s Palliative Care Handbook for GPs marks a new departure for ACT, by reaching out to support professionals outside of the children’s […]
Bill Noble: Give Me a Doctor for Lansley’s NHS
I first remember hearing Auden’s poem during an after-dinner speech by one of the founding fathers of the hospice movement, Eric Wilkes. It describes the poet’s preference for a doctor, whose portly habitus betrays his understanding of patients’ weaknesses (1). The ideal physician is gentle in his approach, calm in adversity and explicit in his […]
Call for abstracts – Palliative Care Congress, 2012
The 9th Palliative Care Congress is to be held at The Sage, Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne between 14-16 March, 2012. Further information will be available shortly and details will be emailed to all those who attended the Congress in 2010. The Palliative Care Congress is now calling for abstract submissions. For more information on the 2012 Congress […]
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Articles of interest in other scholarly journals Once-daily opioids for chronic dyspnea: a dose increment and pharmacovigilance study Currow DC, McDonald C, Oaten S, Kenny B, Allcroft P, Frith P, Briffa M, Johnson MJ, Abernethy AP. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2010;11.021 In a Phase II dose increment study and a long-term Phase IV […]
New plans will improve end of life care for kidney patients
Three UK healthcare partnerships have teamed up to help improve outcomes for advanced stage kidney patients through the early identification and provision of appropriate choice, care planning and palliative care. Together the three partners (Greater Manchester Kidney Care Network; King’s Health Partners; North Bristol Health Economy) selected by NHS Kidney Care, will develop and implement […]