Assessing Technical Feasibility and Acceptability of Telehealth Palliative Care in Nursing Homes.

Background: Over two-thirds of nursing home (NH) residents are eligible for palliative care (PC), yet few receive it, particularly outside of hospice. Little is known about the technical feasibility and acceptability of using telehealth for PC consultations in NHs. Objective: To determine the technical feasibility and acceptability of PC telehealth for NH residents seen by a PC team in the hospital in the previous 30 days. Design: Mixed methods study including data collection from field observations, focus groups about the telehealth experience with content analysis, and a web-based survey about technical feasibility and acceptability. Sample and Approach: Eighteen participants (six PC-eligible NH residents, one PC physician, five family members, six NH nurses) were recruited in 2016 to participate in one of six PC video visits followed by a video-based focus group and web-based survey. Results: All participants were comfortable with the PC video visit format, believed it could improve communication and care coordination, and reported they could see themselves using telehealth in the near future. For technical feasibility, audio quality was rated mostly good/very good (71%) and visual quality was rated fair (50%). Conclusions: PC video visits are technically feasible and acceptable to NH residents, families, and staff, representing an innovative and relatively low-cost opportunity to improve access to needed NH-based PC services. Assessing stakeholder perspectives on the use of this technology can help inform the selection of the proper telehealth platform to meet the clinical and infrastructure needs, as well as protocol modifications required before testing in a larger trial.

Rehabbed to Death: Breaking the Cycle.

Many older adults transfer from the hospital to a post-acute care (PAC) facility and back to the hospital in the final phase of life. This phenomenon, which we have dubbed "Rehabbing to death," is emblematic of how our healthcare system does not meet the needs of older adults and their families. Policy has driven practice in this area including seemingly benign habits such as calling PAC facilities "rehab." We advocate for practice changes: (1) calling PAC "after-hospital transitional care," rather than "rehab"; (2) adopting a serious illness communication model when discussing new care needs at the end of a hospitalization; and (3) policies that incentivize comprehensive care planning for older adults across all settings and provide broad support and training for caregivers. In realigning health and social policies to meet the needs of older adults and their caregivers, fewer patients will be rehabbed to death, and more will receive care consistent with their preferences and priorities. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:2398-2401, 2019.

Update in hospital palliative care.

BACKGROUND: Seriously ill patients frequently receive care in hospitals, and palliative care is a core competency for hospitalists. We aimed to summarize and critique recent research that has the potential to impact the clinical practice of palliative care in the hospital. METHODS: We reviewed articles published between January 2012 and May 2013, identified through a hand-search of leading journals and PubMed. The authors collectively selected 9 articles based on their scientific rigor and relevance to hospital practice. We review their findings, strengths, and limitations and make recommendations for practice. RESULTS: Key findings include: indwelling pleural catheters and talc pleurodesis provide similar relief of dyspnea in patients with malignant pleural effusions; oxygen many not be needed to prevent dyspnea in many dying patients; docusate may not be needed in addition to sennosides to treat opioid-induced constipation; atropine is no more effective than placebo in treating respiratory rattles in dying patients; many older adult survivors of in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are alive up to 1 year after discharge; observing CPR may decrease family post-traumatic stress; surrogates of intensive care unit patients often interpret prognostic information optimistically; many patients with metastatic cancer feel that chemotherapy may cure their disease; viewing a goals-of-care video may decrease preference for CPR in patients being admitted to skilled nursing facilities. CONCLUSIONS: Recent research provides important insights into the effectiveness of medications and interventions for symptom management, outcomes of CPR for patients and families, and Journal of Hospital Medicine 2013;8:715-720. © 2013 Society of Hospital Medicine.