Advance care planning imperative: High-quality patient-centred goals of care.

Advance care planning (ACP) discussions aim to ensure goal-concordant care for patients with serious illness, throughout treatment and especially at the end of life. But recent literature has forced the field of palliative care to wrestle with the definition and impact of ACP. Are ACP discussions worthwhile? Is there a difference between ACP discussions early in a patient's illness versus discussions occurring later when a concrete medical care decision must be made? Here, we identify elements needed to answer these questions and describe how a multisite initiative will elucidate the value of discussing and documenting what matters most to patients.

Buprenorphine for Cancer Pain in Patients With Nonmedical Opioid Use: A Retrospective Study at a Comprehensive Cancer Center.

BACKGROUND: Outpatients with cancer commonly have nonmedical opioid use (NMOU) behaviors and use opioids to dull emotional and existential suffering. Buprenorphine is often used for cancer pain due to less reported euphoria when compared to other opioids. METHODS: A retrospective review was done in patients who were prescribed buprenorphine for cancer pain. Pain scores were reported on a Likert pain scale of 1 to 10. Nonmedical opioid use was defined as patients taking opioids for emotional pain at or above the maximum prescribed amount. RESULTS: For 16 patients, the mean pain score prior to buprenorphine (pain pre) was 8.3 (Standard deviation (Std) 1.6), and the mean pain score on follow-up post-buprenorphine (pain post) was 6.1 (Std 2.3) with a reduction in mean pain score (pain change) of -2.0 (Std 2.9, P = .059). Those patients without NMOU had a pain prescore of 9.5 (Std 1.0) and pain post of 4.3 (Std 2.5) with a mean pain change of -5.0 (Std 1.7, P = .20). The mean pain change in those with chemical coping (-1.3/Std 2.7), illicit drug use (-2.8/Std 1.0), or psychiatric comorbidity (-2.4/Std 2.7) were reduced after buprenorphine, however, not statistically significant. Outpatient rotation to buprenorphine was well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: The pain score in those patients without NMOU was significantly lower after rotation to buprenorphine than those with NMOU. We deduce that in those with NMOU, it is more challenging to achieve pain relief with buprenorphine. Overall, for all patients, rotation to buprenorphine resulted in a marginally significantly reduced pain score.

Effective Palliative Care: What Is Involved?

It is important for oncologists who provide comprehensive cancer care to be familiar with the principles of primary palliative care and interdisciplinary team-based approaches to palliative care. Palliative care is a medical subspecialty that provides specialized care to individuals with serious illnesses, with a primary focus on providing symptom relief, pain management, and relief from psychosocial distress, regardless of diagnosis or prognosis. Ideally, palliative care is provided by a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and chaplains. The core of palliative care is addressing, in depth, the physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering that a patient can experience. Palliative care is a key component of oncologic care, and we highly recommend that it be integrated into the plan of care for patients with advanced cancer. Early integration of palliative care has been shown to provide improved outcomes in patients with advanced cancer. This article reviews the ways in which palliative care and oncology teams can collaborate to provide high-quality care to patients and their families; it also provides practical tips for oncologists who wish to initiate primary palliative care for their patients. Prior to referral to a specialized interdisciplinary palliative care team, oncologists may start advance-care planning discussions, provide basic pain and non-pain symptom relief, and utilize assessment tools. If a specialized palliative care team is not available, the oncologist will often address additional aspects of palliative care, with assistance from social work departments and other resources in the community.