Palliative Pearls

June 2018 –  Falls are the number one cause of death from injury in patients over 65. A simple fall risk screen for elders developed by the CDC includes the following three questions: Have you ...

May 2018 – Make a recommendation. You can reduce your patient’s and family’s distress by making a recommendation about CPR based on what you know about CPR as a medical procedure. “Do ever...

April 2018 – A patient’s past experience with CPR or intensive care is important. Before trying to complete a POLST, learn about your patient’s experience. Personal experience is more import...

March 2018 – Use facts not fear to help your patients make a CPR decision CPR on TV looks easy and seems to be very successful; unfortunately, in real life, only 1 in 8 patients survive witnesse...

February 2018 – For patients unable or unwilling to come onto hospice quickly, here is a basic toolkit of medications for typical end of life symptoms. Even patients who can no longer swallow ca...

January 2018 – The point of prognostication is not to be right, but to help people prepare. Avoid the trap of exact numbers.  Develop a prognosis that is good enough to allow for important deci...

December 2017 – The risk of intracranial or GI hemorrhage in a debilitated ambulatory patient at risk for falling likely exceeds the benefit of stroke reduction.* Most experts agree that anticoa...

November 2017 – Patients are being referred too late to benefit fully from hospice care. Hospice of the Northwest patients are being referred very late in their illness.  35% of patients ad...

October 2017 – VitalTalk Tips – A free app to help you with difficult conversations. VitalTalk Tips is free and easy to use. Its layered structure allows you to use it to quickly review a topi...

July 2017 – Study shows burden may outweigh benefit for managing hypertension in elders with a history of falls. Antihypertensive medications were associated with increased risk of serious fall ...