09.13.2024
Palliative Pearls
08.20.2024
Back to Basics: Skin Conditions & Topical Treatment
The skin is the largest organ in the human body. It functions to protect against microorganisms, dehydration, and mechanical damage. It is the human body’s...
07.19.2024
Understanding Dyspnea in End-Stage COPD: Back to Basics
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms with airflow limitation due to airway and/or alveoli abnormalities such as restriction, scarring, destruction...
06.20.2024
Cultivating LGBTQ+ Inclusive and Gender-Affirming Hospice and Palliative Care
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines health equity as the “attainment of the highest level of health for all people” and notes...
05.23.2024
Back to Basics: Managing Noisy Breathing (“Death Rattle”) at the End of Life
Lucille is a 94-year-old woman with advanced dementia who resides in a nursing home. Her score of 7b in the Functional Assessment Staging Test (FAST)...
04.22.2024
Understanding Advanced Dementia – Back to Basics
Dementia is characterized by a decline in cognition involving one or more cognitive domains (learning and memory, language, executive function, complex attention, perceptual-motor, social cognition).1...
03.21.2024
Addressing Loss of Appetite at End-of-Life
Patient case DT is a 67 y/o male with a primary diagnosis of lung cancer that has metastasized to the brain and liver. He has...
02.16.2024
Back to Basics: Gastrointestinal Symptoms
“I feel nauseous.” “I haven’t had a bowel movement in four days.” Do these statements sound familiar? While we can acknowledge that gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms...
01.24.2024
Build (and Maintain) Your Foundation: Re-Examining End-of-Life Symptoms
We can all appreciate the importance of a strong, sturdy foundation to build our houses and other structures. Building and maintaining foundations are critical elements...