European Journal of Palliative Care - 2017

Max Hastings describes how the global network Project ECHO (Extension of Community Health Care Outcomes) is being used in the UK to foster a virtual community of practice that links disease, community and specialist expertise to improve the quality of clinical decision-making through shared learning and collaborative problem-solving.

The massive expansion in the use of various social networking websites and apps over the past decade has led to a world in which adolescents and many parents use these types of media intensively. Gregory Nolan and Suzanne Crowe discuss the implications of the rise in use of social media for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Cornelius Plaul and Alexander Karmann describe a study that aimed to take a macro perspective of the pathways followed by patients using various palliative care services in Germany, testing the hypothesis that the pathways are in line with current laws and medical recommendations.

In her runner-up entry for the Royal Society of Medicine Palliative Care Section’s George Adams prize for a medical student essay, Anna Broadbent looks at the current state of early integration of palliative care into care paths and considers what could be done to achieve this end on a broader scale.

Jenny Strachan examines how encouraging patients to change certain types of behaviour – such as non-compliance with medicines, persistent reassurance seeking and strain in family relationships – ultimately boils down to understanding and adjusting the relationship between the behaviour and its reinforcers.

A new regular Abstract Watch column features a collection of abstracts collated and summarised by Barry Ashpole that highlight some of the new research in the field of end-of-life care.

Following an observational study of styles of nurse–patient engagement in a hospice, Erna Haraldsdottir describes the process of starting up an arts therapy project with film-maker Amy Hardie that involved patients and staff at Strathcarron Hospice in Denny, Scotland – with the aim of enabling authentic responses to death and dying.

David is a 70-year-old, until now very active, ex-driving instructor who has been diagnosed with incurable cancer of unknown primary and develops hyponatraemia.

The off-label use of drugs in the UK is relatively common in palliative care, in part because a drug’s original marketing authorisation often hasn’t allowed for new routes and emerging novel indications for use. Elizabeth Freshwater, Ishrat Ali, Zameer Begum, Michele Campbell and Gaynor Thompson explain the difficulties they faced in complying with the wishes of a dying patient.

Although hospices have long used the services of volunteers, patient-facing volunteers increasingly have the opportunity to take on more significant roles. Kate Heaps and Di Marks-Maran describe the implementation of a volunteer training programme developed and delivered by a group of hospices in London.

Since 2009, through its Researcher Award, the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) has recognised and supported the work of scientists and clinicians who make an outstanding contribution to palliative care research. Here, Daisy Janssen and Ollie Minton reflect on the path their careers have taken since they won the award in 2014.