Summary
Details
- Outpatient palliative care services
- Hospice-care services
- Need for palliative care
- Role of prognostication
- Goals of care
- Comprehensive palliative care assessment
- Illness trajectories
- Overview of common symptoms experienced by patients in the palliative care setting
- Overview of treatment of the seriously ill patient
- Pain management
- Dyspnea
- Constipation
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Fatigue
- Anorexia
- Delirium
- Nausea
- Tools to document advance-care planning
- Palliative sedation and medical aid in dying
- Guidelines
Contributors
Authors
Jeanie Youngwerth, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Program Director
University of Colorado Hospital Palliative Care Service
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Aurora
CO
Disclosures
JY is a paid advisory board member for an R01 palliative care telemedicine patient/family experience grant proposal for the RAND Corporation; no contractual agreement. JY is a nonpaid vice-chair for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Adult Cancer Pain guidelines; no contractual agreement. JY received payment for faculty and presenting the NCCN Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS)-Compliant Pain Management Webinar Series; no contractual agreement. JY is an author of two references cited in this topic.
Oliver Minton, PhD, FRCP
Macmillan Consultant
Brighton and Sussex University Hospital
Brighton
UK
Disclosures
OM is lead co-applicant on a National Institute for Health and Care Research patient benefit looking at virtual reality. OM is Integrated Care Record lead for palliative care. OM is an associate editor for the BMJ Oncology. OM is part time advisor to Macmillan Cancer as their national end of life care clinician.
Peer reviewers
Diane E. Meier, MD
Gaisman Professor of Medical Ethics
Professor
Departments of Geriatrics and Medicine
Director
Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute
Director
Center to Advance Palliative Care
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York
NY
Disclosures
DEM has received NIH-NCI ROI funding greater than 6 figures USD. DEM declares that she has no competing interests.
Cari Levy, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Denver
CO
Disclosures
CL declares that she has no competing interests.
Cordt Kassner, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Colorado Center for Hospice & Palliative Care
Colorado Springs
CO
Disclosures
CK declares that he has no competing interests.
Irene J. Higginson, BM, BS, BMedSci, PhD, FFPHM, FRCP
Professor
Palliative Care, Policy and Rehabilitation
King's College London/King's Healthcare Partners
London
UK
Disclosures
IJH declares that she has no competing interests.
Peer reviewer acknowledgements
BMJ Best Practice topics are updated on a rolling basis in line with developments in evidence and guidance. The peer reviewers listed here have reviewed the content at least once during the history of the topic.
Disclosures
Peer reviewer affiliations and disclosures pertain to the time of the review.
References
Key articles
National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN clinical practice guidelines in oncology: adult cancer pain [internet publication].Full text
National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN clinical practice guidelines in oncology: palliative care [internet publication].Full text
Sanders JJ, Temin S, Ghoshal A, et al. Palliative care for patients with cancer: ASCO guideline update. J Clin Oncol. 2024 Jul 1;42(19):2336-57.Full text Abstract
Andersen BL, Lacchetti C, Ashing K, et al. Management of anxiety and depression in adult survivors of cancer: ASCO guideline update. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Jun 20;41(18):3426-53.Full text Abstract
Reference articles
A full list of sources referenced in this topic is available to users with access to all of BMJ Best Practice.
Calculators
Geriatric Depression Scale
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