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CONTEXT: Incorporation of a palliative care approach is increasingly needed in primary care and nursing home care because most people with a life-limiting illness or frailty live there. OBJECTIVES: To explore patients' and relatives' experiences of palliative care at home and in nursing homes. METHODS: Generic qualitative research in a purposive sample of patients with an estimated life expectancy of <1 year, receiving care at home or in a nursing home, and their relatives. Data is collected through semi-structured interviews and thematically analyzed by a multidisciplinary research team. RESULTS: Seven patients and five relatives participated. Three essential elements of palliative care and their contributing factors emerged: 1) be seen (personal attention, alignment to who the patient is as a person, and feeling connected) 2) information needs (illness trajectory and multidimensional symptoms and concerns, and 3) ensuring continuity (single point of contact, availability of HCPs, and coordination of care). Patients and relatives experienced loss of control and safety if these essentials were not met, which depended largely on the practices of the individual health care professional. CONCLUSION: In both primary care and nursing home care, patients and relatives expressed the same essential elements of palliative care. They emphasized the importance of being recognized as a unique person beyond their patient status, receiving honest and clear information aligned with their preferences, and having care organized to ensure continuity. Adequate competence and skills are needed, together with a care organization that enables continuity to provide safe and person-centered care.
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Background: Palliative care in primary care and nursing home settings is becoming increasingly important. A multidimensional palliative care approach, provided by a multiprofessional team, is essential to meeting patients' and relatives' values, wishes, and needs. Factors that hamper the provision of palliative care in this context have not yet been fully explored. Objectives: To identify the barriers to providing palliative care for patients at home or in nursing homes as perceived by healthcare professionals. Design: Cross-sectional survey study. Methods: A convenience sample of nurses, doctors, chaplains, and rehabilitation therapists working in primary care and at nursing homes in the Netherlands is used. The primary outcome is barriers, defined as statements with ⩾20% negative response. The survey contained 56 statements on palliative reasoning, communication, and multiprofessional collaboration. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: In total, 249 healthcare professionals completed the survey (66% completion rate). The main barriers identified in the provision of palliative care were the use of measurement tools (43%), consultation of an expert (31%), estimation of life expectancy (29%), and documentation in the electronic health record (21% and 37%). In primary care, mainly organizational barriers were identified, whereas in nursing homes, most barriers were related to care content. Chaplains and rehabilitation therapists perceived the most barriers. Conclusion: In primary care and nursing homes, there are barriers to the provision of palliative care. The provision of palliative care depends on the identification of patients with palliative care needs and is influenced by individual healthcare professionals, possibilities for consultation, and the electronic health record. An unambiguous and systematic approach within the multiprofessional team is needed, which should be patient-driven and tailored to the setting.
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BACKGROUND: Gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus accounts for considerable morbidity in young children. We aimed to assess the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of the oral rotavirus vaccine Rotarix, as measured by laboratory-confirmed rotavirus infection after referral to hospital and/or emergency departments in children aged <5 years with gastroenteritis. METHODS: We performed a systematic search for peer-reviewed studies conducted in real-life settings published between 2006 and 2016 and a meta-analysis to calculate the overall Rotarix VE, which was further discriminated through stratified analyses. RESULTS: The overall VE estimate was 69% (95% confidence interval [CI], 62% to 75%); stratified analyses revealed a non-negligible impact of factors such as study design and socioeconomic status. Depending on the control group, VE ranged from 63% (95% CI, 52% to 72%) to 81% (95% CI, 69% to 88%) for unmatched and matched rotavirus test-negative controls. VE varied with socioeconomic status: 81% (95% CI, 74% to 86%) in high-income countries, 54% (95% CI, 39% to 65%) in upper-middle-income countries, and 63% (95% CI, 50% to 72%) in lower-middle-income countries. Age, rotavirus strain, and disease severity were also shown to impact VE, but to a lesser extent. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis of real-world studies showed that Rotarix is effective in helping to prevent hospitalizations and/or emergency department visits due to rotavirus infection.
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Despite the burden of diabetes mellitus (DM), little is known about the role of this and other metabolic syndromes on the severity of hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronicity and liver disease progression. The value of hepatitis B vaccination and its impact on liver diseases and HCC has been largely demonstrated, adult vaccination coverage is however suboptimal and DM diagnosis represents an opportunity for the HCP to discuss hepatitis B and other adult vaccinations. We performed a systematic literature search to identify studies (January 2000 to January 2017) describing liver disease progression among patients with HBV by DM status. Risk factors were assessed including the relationship between HBV and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Data were extracted systematically and assessed descriptively. Twenty articles described liver disease progression and one article evaluated NASH among subjects with HBV by DM status. Fourteen articles reported that DM as a predictor for the outcome, including delayed seroclearance, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, transplant/mortality and death, whereas no association on liver outcomes was found in 7 studies. In summary, our review suggests that DM is associated with the progression of severe liver outcomes in adults with HBV, although more studies are needed to understand the benefits of HBV vaccination in adults with DM and liver-diseases.
