Comment: The EAPC in the next 25 years: known and unknown unknowns
Sheila Payne
pp 265-265
When organisations come of age, it is normal to reflect with satisfaction on how well things have gone and congratulate all concerned. I am going to depart from this convention somewhat by also highlighting what still needs to be done.
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Assisted dying – the current situation in Flanders: euthanasia embedded in palliative care
Paul Vanden Berghe, Arsène Mullie, Marc Desmet and Gert Huysmans
pp 266-272
In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking, northern part of Belgium), in the course of the last ten years, physician-assisted dying and euthanasia have become embedded in palliative care. Paul Vanden Berghe, Arsène Mullie, Marc Desmet and Gert Huysmans, from the Federation of Palliative Care Flanders, describe how this major change happened and what issues it raises.
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Commentary on ‘Assisted dying – the current situation in Flanders: euthanasia embedded in palliative care’
Fiona Randall
pp 273-276
In the preceding article in this issue, Paul Vanden Berghe and colleagues describe how euthanasia has come to be incorporated into palliative care provision in Flanders and, to some extent, in the whole of Belgium. Here, Fiona Randall offers a critique of the situation described and questions many of the assumptions behind the Belgian model.
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Book review: Participatory Research in Palliative Care – Actions and Reflections
Jamilla Hussain
pp 276-276
This is a clear overview of participatory (or ‘action’) research and its place in palliative care. A relatively new method, participatory research focuses on action and reflection within the research process.
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Jacksplace – a hospice dedicated to teenagers and young adults in Hampshire
Lesley Brook
pp 277-279
In 2010, Wessex Children’s Hospice Trust set up a hospice specifically designed for teenagers and young people aged between 18 and 30 years who have a life-limiting or life-threatening condition. How has it been doing?
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Book review: Palliative Medicine in the UK c.1970-2010
Corinna Midgley
pp 279-279
This volume forms part of an established oral history series, for which conversations between key figures of 20th century biomedicine are transcribed into books. The development of palliative medicine in the UK is a perfect topic, as its history often stops with the opening of St Christopher’s Hospice in 1967, yet so much has happened since.
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Case study masterclass 71: Complicated home discharge of an obdurate smoker needing oxygen therapy
Morwenna Hitchens
pp 280-281
Paul is a 45-year-old plasterer. He is separated from his wife and lives alone on the first floor of a block of ten flats. He has two grown-up children from a previous relationship, with whom he has had no contact for over five years. Paul is a heavy drinker and suffers from short-term memory loss.
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Case study masterclass 70 answers: A 70-year-old man experiencing a number of problems associated with Parkinson’s disease
Anna Hume
pp 282-282
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Essential features of e-prescribing in hospices: the views of end-users
Stephen Ward and Max Watson
pp 283-285
Electronic prescribing offers several benefits, including a reduction in medication errors, but the available systems are not adapted to specialist settings such as hospices. Stephen Ward and Max Watson have surveyed hospice physicians, nurses and pharmacists in Northern Ireland about their ideal electronic prescribing system.
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What palliative care can do for motor neurone disease patients and their families
David Oliver and Samar Aoun
pp 286-289
Appropriate palliative care is essential for people with motor neurone disease, a progressive and irreversible neurological condition that can have distressing symptoms in its later stages. David Oliver and Samar Aoun detail how and when the specialist palliative care team should get involved.
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Frances Sheldon: British social worker, European palliative care leader, international psychosocial care expert
David Oliviere and Pam Firth
pp 290-291
To mark the 25th anniversary of the EAPC, David Oliviere and Pam Firth pay homage to one of its founding members, who was a leading figure in palliative care social work – and a member of this journal’s editorial board.
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‘Diagnosing dying’ in cancer patients – a systematic literature review
Steffen Eychmüller, Franzisca Domeisen Benedetti, Richard Latten, Kali Tal, Jochen Walker and Massimo Costantini
pp 292-296
Steffen Eychmüller, Franzisca Domeisen Benedetti, Richard Latten, Kali Tal, Jochen Walker and Massimo Costantini have searched what the literature says about signs and symptoms of approaching death in cancer patients. They found that current evidence is poor and that better-designed studies are needed.
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EAPC update
Carlos Centeno and David Clark
pp 297-297
We are delighted to inform the readers of this journal of the publication of a new edition of the EAPC Atlas of Palliative Care in Europe,which was successfully launched at the 13th Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) in Prague in May 2013.
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Turf matters – hospice care in the patient’s home
Paul J Moon
pp 298-299
Families’ homes are very intimate places and hospice care workers need to be aware of the specific difficulties of delivering care in that setting. Paul J Moon tells us more.
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Palliative care research in eastern Africa
Eve Namisango, Richard A Powell, Helen Kariuki, Richard Harding, Emmanuel Luyirika and Faith Mwangi-Powell
pp 300-304
Our series on African palliative care research continues with eastern Africa, where current conditions and future challenges are described by Eve Namisango, Richard A Powell, Helen Kariuki, Richard Harding, Emmanuel Luyirika and Faith Mwangi-Powell.
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EAPC Early Researcher Award 2010 – looking back
Joachim Cohen
pp 306-307
Since 2009, through the Early Researcher Award, the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) has recognised and supported the work of novice scientists and clinicians who make an outstanding contribution to palliative care research. Three years after receiving it in 2010, Joachim Cohen,who was the sole winner that year, describes the path his career has taken since.
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European insight: International Children’s Palliative Care Network: working together to stop children’s suffering
Joan Marston, Sue Boucher, Julia Downing, Busi Nkosi and Barbara Steel
pp 308-311
Created in 2005, the International Children’s Palliative Care Network affirms its vision of a world where every child has access to quality palliative care services. Another step towards this ambitious aim will be the organisation’s first conference, to be held in February 2014 in Mumbai, India.
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Letter to the Editor
Brenda Boudreau
pp 311-311
A better understanding of palliative care and of the diagnosis of someone being ‘palliative’ is needed for both healthcare providers and patients.
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