Healthcare Professionals

  • A Review of Paid Staff and Volunteers Working Together in Palliative Care

    In the palliative care setting, paid staff and volunteers form an essential partnership. While volunteers play a crucial role in supporting patients’ families and providing a means of communication, tensions sometimes arise. Oliver (2023) and colleagues explored these dynamics to uncover five important storylines. Topics such as understanding the different Continue reading →

  • Virtual Reality Use and Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care

    While virtual reality is increasingly used in healthcare settings, there is limited knowledge on how virtual reality use in palliative care impacts patients’ outcomes. Moloney and colleagues (2023) sought to answer the research question, “What knowledge and evidence exists in the literature on virtual reality use in palliative care, particularly Continue reading →

  • Good Death for People Living with Dementia

    It is estimated that the number of individuals worldwide affected by dementia will reach 152 million by 2050. With an increase in the number of people living with dementia globally, palliative care and end-of-life care are becoming increasingly important in demen­tia care. However, there is a lack of evidence on Continue reading →

  • Patient-reported outcome measures in children, adolescents, and young adults with palliative care needs—a scoping review

    Children’s hospice palliative care (or pediatric hospice palliative care) is an active, holistic approach to care which focuses on relieving the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual suffering experienced by children and families who face a life-threatening condition, and helping them fulfill their physical, psychological, social, and spiritual goals. To strengthen Continue reading →

  • Changes in Hospice Care Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

    Demand for hospice care increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. DeYoreo and colleagues (2023) examine how the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced the characteristics of patients receiving hospice care, the settings in which they received care, and their care experiences in the United States. Characteristics of hospice decedents were similar in Continue reading →

  • Best Practice in Telephone Bereavement Support

    While telephone bereavement support is widely used, there is minimal guidance as to what telephone support should comprise and little is known about what constitutes best practice. To better understand emerging best practice, Staniland and colleagues (2023) conducted a study to explore bereavement care providers’ perceptions of best practice in Continue reading →

  • Interventions for Family Caregivers of Patients Receiving Hospice Palliative Care at Home: A Scoping Review

    Caregivers play an important role in caring for individuals receiving hospice care at home, but also face negative outcomes (e.g., burden, depression, anxiety) associated with caregiving at the end-of-life. There are many different interventions aimed at supporting caregivers, but few studies have broadly examined outcomes of interventions that support caregivers Continue reading →

  • Bereavement in the Context of Homelessness: A Rapid Review

    Research suggests that those who are bereaved and experiencing homelessness may not be well supported in their bereavement. There is a need to understand how bereavement is experienced in the context of homelessness to be able to better support individuals who are experiencing homelessness and bereavement. This rapid review sought Continue reading →

  • Completing a Rapid Needs Assessment for a Nonprofit Community-Based Hospice Wellness Center in Ontario

    The literature pertaining to community-based hospice wellness centres, especially concerning program evaluation, is sparse. This article describes the development and implementation of a mixed-method, rapid needs assessment for a nonprofit community-based hospice wellness centre in Ontario, Canada. As part of the needs assessment, a survey and focus groups were performed Continue reading →

  • Being a Hospice Nurse in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

    The COVID-19 pandemic placed the hospice philosophy and associated values under pressure. Care provided by hospice nurses shifted from interdisciplinary and holistic care to a focus on avoiding the spread of infectious disease. To better understand the impact of the pandemic on hospice nurses, Bové and colleagues (2023) conducted a Continue reading →