Palliative care in the time of COVID-19

After covid-19 crisis in Italy, serious restrictions have been introduced for relatives, with limitations or prohibitions on hospital visits. To partially overcome these issues “WhatsApp” has been adopted to get family members to participate in clinical rounds. Family members of patients admitted to the acute palliative care unit and hospice were screened for a period of 2 weeks. Four formal questions were posed: 1) Are you happy to virtually attend the clinical round? 2) Are you happy with the information gained in this occasion? 3) Do you think that your loved one was happy to see you during the clinical rounds? 4) This technology may substitute your presence during the clinical rounds? The scores were 0 = no, 1 = a little bit, 2 = much, 3 = very much.

Source: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management - May 2, 2020 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Sebastiano Mercadante, Claudio Adile, Patrizia Ferrera, Fausto Giuliana, Lidia Terruso, Tania Piccione Tags: COVID-19 for Fast Track Publication Source Type: research