BACKGROUND: The intensive care unit (ICU) represents a unique clinical setting in which mortality is relatively high and the professional culture tends to be one of "rescue therapy" using technological and invasive interventions. For these reasons,…
Palliative medicine has developed as a specialized field of practice in recent decades but the focus has been very much on older adults with incurable malignancies. The needs of dying children have not been addressed adequately and the question of…
Methadone is a synthetic opioid agonist considered a second choice drug in the management of cancer pain. Methadone has a number of unique characteristics including excellent oral and rectal absorption, no known active metabolites, high potency, low…
