Volume 15, Number 2
 

Childhood deaths in Italy

To provide a basis for planning paediatric palliative care services, Franca Benini, Anna Ferrante, Silvia Buzzone, Manuela Trapanotto, Paola Facchin and Paolo Cornaglia undertook a study to ascertain the numbers of children dying of life-limiting or life-threatening disease in Italy

Dying without pain: nurses giving morphine in Uganda

Nurses in Uganda can now prescribe morphine. Barbara Jack and Anne Merriman report on a study that looked at how they are trained and the impact this has had on patient care

Has Ireland’s national policy benefited palliative care?

Despite the launch of a national policy for palliative care in Ireland in 2001, a study published in 2006 found that targets had not been met and funding was woefully short. This forced the government to act, says Eugene Murray, and the future looks optimistic

Renal failure in palliative care patients

Inger Karin Lægreid and Stein Hallan look at the causes and consequences of kidney failure in palliative care patients and consider whether or not dialysis is appropriate

Respecting culture near the end of life

In New Zealand, as in several other countries, death is ‘conspicuous mainly by its relative absence’ in the medical curriculum. Nevertheless, palliative care practitioners are attempting to influence the way people there are cared for.

Symptom assessment in terminally ill cancer patients

Using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, a study in Italy assessed the impact of home and hospice care on the quality of life of palliative care patients. Giovanni Borrelli, Lorenza Garrino, Alessandro Valle and Mariangela De Pascalis report on its findings

The case study masterclass: Case 37. A patient with severe opioid-induced pain

A 52-year-old man with a one-year history of metastatic prostate cancer was admitted acutely to an oncology hospital with worsening back pain. He was known to have widespread bone metastases throughout his spine, ribs, iliac joints and shoulders.

Tracheostomy ventilation in motor neurone disease

Gordon Jackson-Koku, David Oliver and Jackie Fisher discuss the use of tracheostomy ventilation in motor neurone disease, including the epidemiology, clinical presentation and respiratory muscle function of the condition and ethical aspects that need to be considered

Using restraints – definition, understanding and challenges

Rhidian Hughes looks at the use of restraints in patients receiving palliative care, and asks whether they can ever be justified