Publication Language: English

Caregivers to cancer patients may be particularly vulnerable to the experience of loneliness. The current study comparedthe strategies used to cope with loneliness by those caring for hospitalized cancer patients who were receiving treatment,and caregivers of cancer patients in a hospice, who were on their death bed. Analyses revealed that there was no significantdifference in …

Coping with loneliness: Caregivers of cancer patients Read More »

Background. There is no universally accepted system to accurately predict complexity of cancer pain management. The Edmonton Classification System for Cancer Pain (ECS-CP) was developed from the Edmonton Staging System (ESS) for Cancer Pain (1989) and the revised ESS (rESS) (2005). This study is an extension of an international multicenter validation study of the ECS-CP. Research …

An International Pain Classification System: How Reliable Are the Assessments Across Different Raters? Read More »

Purpose: The study’s primary objective was to assess predictive validity of the Edmonton Classification System for Cancer Pain (ECS-CP) in a diverse international sample of advanced cancer patients. We hypothesised that patients with problematic pain syndromes would require more time to achieve stable pain control, more complicated analgesic regimens and higher opioid doses than patients with …

An international multicentre validation study of a pain classification system for cancer patients Read More »

The objective of this study was to evaluate suffering of end-of-life cancer patients during their final hospice stay and the possible interrelations with survival. A cohort of consecutive patients hospitalized in an inpatient cancer hospice of a tertiary hospital was used for this study. Patients were evaluated upon admission and once weekly by the Mini-Suffering …

Mini-Suffering State Examination: suffering and survival of end-of-life cancer patients in a hospice setting Read More »

Objective: The study compared the qualitative aspects of the loneliness experience of the dying, their caregivers, and the general population. Method: The patients were recruited in an oncological hospice in Israel, and, despite being on their deathbed, agreed to participate in the study. Thirty-seven cancer-stricken patients, 78 caregivers, and 128 participants from the general population volunteered to …

The loneliness experience of the dying and of those who care for them Read More »

This study compares the manner in which the dying, their caregivers, and the general population cope with loneliness. The patients were recruited in an oncological hospice in Israel and, despite being on their deathbed, agreed to participate. Thirty-seven cancer-stricken patients, 78 caregivers, and 128 participants From the general population volunteered to take part. The participants …

The dying, those who care for them, and how they cope with loneliness Read More »

Controlled-release oxycodone (OxyContin) is commonly used for pain relief in terminal cancer. This opioid may be considered as a treatment option for patients who prefer oral pain control, but who are unwilling to take oral morphine sulphate or cannot tolerate its side effects. However, little is documented about the use of high doses of this …

High dose controlled-release oxycodone in hospice care Read More »

Introduction: Normal sense of smell is important for well being. Although cancer is reported to be associated with impaired olfactory function, very few studies have directly evaluated this effect. Patients and methods: We performed a quantitative analysis of olfactory status in 42 hospice patients in a hospital-based hospice facility. Olfaction was assessed using the “Sniffin’ Sticks” (Burghart …

Olfactory function in oncologic hospice patients Read More »