Articles related to LONG-TERM CARE (LTC)

A new study has found that people with osteoporosis may experience less protection and be subject to more bone fractures when treated with the drug risedronate. Patients who were treated with risedronate during a drug holiday experienced more hip and other fractures than patients given other medications. Drug holidays are recommended after three to five years on therapy for most people taking bisphosphonates for osteoporosis. Risedronate, with its shorter half-life compared with alendronate, is associated with a somewhat higher risk of hip fracture during a drug holiday.

Amy Watson became famous for coining the term “COVID long hauler” to describe people, such as herself, who suffer from the effects of the respiratory disease over an extended period. These long-haul symptoms can include fever, body aches, and fatigue. Watson herself says she rarely goes more than a few hours without suffering a fever, nearly two years after first contracting COVID-19. GoodRx Health chronicles Amy Watson’s story and what it’s like for people suffering from long COVID.

“MB” is a frail, wheelchair-ridden, nearly blind, and mostly deaf woman living with early dementia and neglected lung cancer. What this oncologist thought MB wanted and needed was a lot different than what MB actually wanted and needed after discussing various options with her and talking to her family on numerous occasions. A humbling, honest view of an oncologist’s biases.

Publication: JAMADesign: Multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial performed in six hospices in the Netherlands of 162 patients with a life expectancy of three or more days. Administration of subcutaneous scopolamine butylbromide, 20 mg four times a day (n = 79) or placebo (n=78) in the 157 patients included in the primary analysis.Results: A death rattle occurred in 10 patients (13%) in the scopolamine group compared with 21 patients (27%) in the placebo group.

How could complete silence possibly be considered music (John Cage’s 4’33”), or a blank canvas a masterpiece of art (Robert Rauschenberg’s White Painting)? This oncology medical student explains how after truly listening to a dying patient’s wishes, the student’s silence provided the canvas for the patient’s thoughts, becoming an advocate for his needs: “Silence is not merely the absence of sound but rather an invitation for others to be heard.”

This is the third edition of the guidelines – the last coming in 2014 – providing a resource and guidance specifically for primary care practitioners about how to plan care for childhood cancer survivors. “A care plan just really encourages coordination, especially if a child has a very complicated post-cancer treatment history with a lot of morbidity,” said Dr. Melissa Hudson, director of the division of cancer survivorship at St. Jude’s and corresponding author of the new guidelines.