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Update in Palliative Care - 2011

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ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this update is to summarize scientifically rigorous articles published in 2010 that serve to advance the field of palliative medicine and have an impact on clinical practice.

METHOD

We conducted two separate literature searches for articles published between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010. We reviewed title pages from the Annals of Internal Medicine, British Medical Journal, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, JAMA, Journal of Clinical Oncology, JGIM, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Journal of Palliative Medicine, Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, PC-FACS (Fast Article Critical Summaries for Clinicians in Palliative Care). We also conducted a Medline search with the key words "palliative," "hospice," and "terminal" care. Each author presented approximately 20 abstracts to the group. All authors reviewed these abstracts, and when needed, full text publications. We focused on articles relevant to general internists. We rated the articles individually, eliminating by consensus those that were not deemed of highest priority, and discussed the final choices as a group.

RESULTS

We first identified 126 articles with potential relevance. We presented 20 at the annual SGIM update session, and discuss 11 in this paper.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Braun was supported in part by a Geriatric Academic Career Award KO1HP20480 through the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Dr. Walling is supported by a National Palliative Care Research Center Career Development Award.

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or HRSA.

Prior presentations: This paper was presented, in a slightly different format, at the SGIM national meetings in Phoenix, Arizona, in May 2011.

Conflicts of Interest

None disclosed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 2020 Zonal Avenue, IRD 310, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Patricia F. Harris MD, MS

  2. Institute for Doctor-Patient Communication Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Robert M. Arnold MD

  3. Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Ursula K. Braun MD

  4. Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics, Houston, TX, USA

    Ursula K. Braun MD

  5. Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Erik Fromme MD, MCR

  6. Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Rahwa Ghermay MD

  7. Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Stephanie Harman MD

  8. Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Robert L. Jayes MD

  9. University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Anne M. Walling MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Patricia F. Harris MD, MS
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  2. Robert M. Arnold MD
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  3. Ursula K. Braun MD
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  4. Erik Fromme MD, MCR
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  5. Rahwa Ghermay MD
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  6. Stephanie Harman MD
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  7. Robert L. Jayes MD
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  8. Anne M. Walling MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricia F. Harris MD, MS.

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Harris, P.F., Arnold, R.M., Braun, U.K. et al. Update in Palliative Care - 2011. J GEN INTERN MED 27, 582–587 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-011-1929-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-011-1929-9

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