Resources Articles and Reports for professionals

In this section you will find a collection for interesting articles, reports and other materials that might be of interest for professionals in the filed of supportive care. Material will be added over time, many of them suggested to us by our members.

Life's tough choices - By Vicki Viotti.
With more facing difficult end-of-life decisions, awareness and enhancements in palliative and hospice care have grown tremendously. By Vicki Viotti. Star Advertiser, Oct 30, 2011, Section F1&F4

Hospice can be considered a dreaded word by many families caring for someone nearing the end of life. It suggests turning the page on the chapter about finding a cure and entering a phase everyone's been avoiding. More: downoad PDF file

2011 Public Opinion Research on Palliative Care

We thought you might be interested in a recently released study from CAPC (Center for the Advancement of Palliative Care) about how people perceive the language used around hospice, palliative and end-of-life care.  Key findings include:
  • Language makes a difference. Palliative care is about improving quality of life, providing an extra layer of support, and having a team focus to patient care.
  • Palliative care is a relative unknown among consumers.
  • Once informed, consumers say they would be very likely to consider using palliative care if they or a loved one had a serious illness.
  • 95% of respondents agree that it is important that patients with serious illness and their families be educated about palliative care.
  • 92% of respondents say it is important that palliative care services be made available at all hospitals for patients with serious illness and their families.

You may want to have and in-depth look and download the 15-page pdf of the survey.

Care of the whole person

We hare happy to share with you this article from The American Cancer Society talking about the importance of palliative care. "Care of the whole person" by Jnnifer L.W.Fink, RN was published in Triumph Summer 2011 edition of ACS.

Click here for a PDF of the article

Twelve Breaths': Lessons From The End Of Life

In case you missed the show "Twelve Breaths': Lessons From The End Of Life" on NPR on July 25, you can listen to it on-line. (As long as this link by NPR is 'hot')

"When life draws to an end, family, caregivers and medical professionals face a flurry of often heartbreaking decisions. Are there any last treatments to try? How much longer can a patient hold on? When is it time to turn off the ventilator - and who gets to decide?"

Background materials of interest

For a number of important articles please check Pivotal Palliative Care Articles from The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC).