03.07.2016
Clinical Alerts
03.07.2016
Study: Hospice Visits in the Last 2 Days of Life
A recent JAMA Internal Medicine study reports that many hospice patients are not visited by a health care professional or social worker in the last...
02.09.2016
Qualitative Study Exploring Palliative Care Medicines
Patients with life-limiting illnesses often have more than one co-morbid condition thereby exacerbating polypharmacy and the continuation of unnecessary medications. Todd and colleagues used in-depth...
01.21.2016
Responding to Suffering
In a recent JAMA article, physicians Epstein and Back implore us to recognize that diagnosing and treating symptoms and illness is only a part of...
01.05.2016
Morphine for Refractory Dyspnea
This paper reports the findings of an exploratory study comparing morphine to placebo for patients with chronic refractory breathlessness. Study participants (N=65) were diagnosed with...
12.08.2015
Cost Containment Strategies: Generic Medications
The Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians just published a free online article that is a must read for hospice organizations interested...
11.11.2015
New Tool Offers Cost Guidance on Cancer Treatment
In order to prescribe the most effective cancer therapy, doctors use formal guidelines to assist in decision-making. However, these guidelines usually do not consider cost...
10.20.2015
Antimicrobials at End of Life
A recent article published in JAMA states that nearly 90% of patients with advanced cancer are prescribed an antimicrobial within the last week of life...
10.05.2015
Effect of Dextromethorphan-Quinidine on Agitation in Patients With Alzheimer’s Dementia
Patients with Alzheimer’s disease frequently experience agitation and other behavioral problems. With heightened awareness on the harms and lack of benefit of prescribing antipsychotics in...