It is increasingly necessary to have a measuring instrument available in the health field that can be used in clinical practice and research. In order to guarantee the quality of their measurements it is essential that the instruments should be subjected to a process of validation. This process consists in adapting the instrument culturally to the setting where its psychometric characteristics are to be administered and checked, such as: reliability, validity, sensitivity and feasibility. There are measuring instruments from the health field available in other languages but that have not been validated into Spanish. Besides, the methodology for validating an instrument is little understood by the health professionals, which explains the indiscriminate use of instruments that have only been adapted or validated in a way that is not very consistent. The aim of this review is to bring up to date the process of validating an instrument for measuring health, and what it involves, in a practical way. The accessibility of evaluation instruments that have been culturally adapted and validated in different languages will facilitate the comparison of results obtained with the same instrument and the development international studies in different cultures.

Humor plays an unquestionable role in palliative care, but its use needs training and appropriate use.

The ESAS-r is a valid instrument with adequate psychometric characteristics. This version is preferred by patients with advanced cancer. The Spanish version of the ESAS-r can, therefore, replace the use of the ESAS.

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Background: Spain has been severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, with 195,944 persons infected and 20,453 deaths at the time of writing. Older people with respiratory or cardiac conditions are most at risk. Objective: The aim was to compare respiratory symptoms in nursing home residents and patients with uncontrolled asthma, who are considered vulnerable to COVID-19. Methods: We studied 134 nursing home residents and 139 patients with uncontrolled asthma, groups vulnerable to COVID-19. Demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, outcomes, key laboratory results, and radiological images were collected from medical records. COVID-19 infection was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Thirteen (9.3%) patients with uncontrolled asthma, all receiving inhaled corticosteroids were infected by COVID-19. Eighty (60%) nursing home residents were infected; only 28, all of whom had received inhaled corticosteroids, had a good prognosis. Conclusions: Early treatment with inhaled corticosteroids may be helpful in COVID-19 infection. Persons with an allergy might have some protective mechanisms against coronavirus.

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For the relief of chemotherapy symptoms in cancer patients, methylphenidate and modafinil were no more effective than placebo, although findings suggest that these psychostimulants may provide some benefit in patients who are suffering more severe asthenia or who are at advanced stages of the cancer. Methylphenidate showed marginal improvement in relation to symptoms such as asthenia and depression in studies in which it was compared with placebo; data from the only phase III study suggest that modafinil is an effective drug for advanced oncology patients.

Background: There are no validated measuring tools to gauge the effectiveness of a Hospital Palliative Care Consultation Team (PCCT). One way would be to consider its effect on the consumption of opioids expressed in total amounts and different formulations administered. We perform this study to evaluate the impact of a hospital PCCT on the trends of opioid prescription in a University Hospital.