Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Brizzi, Kate
• Paganoni, Sabrina
• Zehm, April
• De Marchi, Fabiola
• Berry, James D

Titel

Integration of a palliative care specialist in an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clinic: Observations from 1 center

Ist Teil von

• Muscle & nerve, 2019-06

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley Online Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Palliative care specialists can aid in the care of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In this article, we describe our 1-year experience incorporating a palliative care specialist into the ALS multidisciplinary team. We describe our integration model, patient selection, and visit content. Of 500 total clinic patients, 74 (14.8%) were seen by the palliative care specialist in 1 year. Referral was most often triggered by advance care planning needs (91%). In the initial visit with the palliative care specialist, topics most frequently covered included goals of care (84%), anxiety/depression (35%), and medical decision-making about feeding tubes (27%) or tracheostomy (31%). Symptom management comprised a relatively small number of the visits, and duration of visits was limited by patient fatigue. Patients with complex goals of care may benefit from the input of a palliative care specialist, and unique integration models may help to facilitate care delivery. Muscle Nerve, 2019.