Evidence-Based Medicine and Palliative Care

Clinical Excellence in Palliative Care: Examples From the Published Literature

“…34 However, many experts believe there is an ongoing need to improve the rigor and quality of evidence for the field, 34,35 with some advocating for the inclusion of nontraditional methods such as narratives or qualitative studies. 36 Superb palliative care clinicians are skilled in effectively applying existing research to the clinical care of individual patients.…”

Quality of life in palliative care

“…The nonconfusion between image and content is at the heart of the provocation by Magritte (Fig. 1), which we have taken from the recent editorial by Hallenbeck [4] in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, and that has been kindly and originally reproduced by Giorgio Bordin. Who states that the methodologies based on evidence are only a set of instruments which are useful for understanding certain aspects of reality, but not necessarily the best for understanding others.…”

Evidence-Based Practice in Hospice

“…Hallenbeck (2008) expresses concern that the existing literature seems to ignore personhood and suffering in general. Rousseau (2009) writes that some of the research is riddled with conflicts of interest and often those with conflicts report positive findings.…”

“…Rousseau (2009) is a critic of evidence-based practice when it comes to hospice and palliative care, contending that an evidence-based practice approach to human suffering ignores the subjective nature of pain (Rousseau, 2009). Hallenbeck (2008 shares similar views in discussing how the scientific method cannot be applied to suffering, which is a more abstract concept.…”

“…Patient narratives and experience with dying can often serve as the best evidence of how to help a broader cross-section of hospice patients (Hallenbeck, 2008). Although evidencebased practice has value in hospice care, it is but one resource in the provision of quality care, not the silver bullet that some may make it out to be (Hallenbeck, 2008). Empathy and compassion are components that come into play in end-of-life care and have to be considered in a research paradigm.…”