BACKGROUND: Many persons and their families are burdened by serious chronic illness in late life. How to best support quality of life is an important consideration for care. PURPOSE: To assess evidence about interventions to improve palliative and…
RECOMMENDATION 1: In patients with serious illness at the end of life, clinicians should regularly assess patients for pain, dyspnea, and depression. (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate quality of evidence.) RECOMMENDATION 2: In patients with…
PURPOSE: We wanted to undertake a critical review of the medical literature regarding the relationships between interpersonal continuity of care and the outcomes and cost of health care. METHODS: A search of the MEDLINE database from 1966 through…
Transition is a generic issue for subspecialties dealing with chronic illness and has received little attention to date. Transfer to adult care occurs at the end of a transition process that must be individualised for each patient and takes into…
Ensuring a safe and effective transition of young people with chronic illness and disability from paediatric care to adult health services is a key quality issue for the NHS. To achieve this, three elements must be pursued with vigour. Firstly, a…
There is much anxiety regarding the transfer of adolescents with chronic illness to adult services. Transfer of patients can be haphazard if the transition has not been planned. Problems and obstacles to transition have been identified and discussed…