Objective To assess the effect of specialist palliative care on quality of life and additional outcomes relevant to patients in those with advanced illness. Design Systematic review with meta-analysis. Data sources Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, and trial registers searched up to July 2016. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Randomised controlled trials with adult inpatients or outpatients treated in hospital, hospice, or community settings with any advanced illness. Minimum requirements for specialist palliative care included the multiprofessional team approach. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted data, assessed the risk of bias (Cochrane risk of bias tool), and evaluated the quality of evidence (GRADE tool). Data synthesis Primary outcome was quality of life with Hedges’ g as standardised mean difference (SMD) and random effects model in meta-analysis. In addition, the pooled SMDs of the analyses of quality of life were re-expressed on the global health/QoL scale (item 29 and 30, respectively) of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 (0-100, high values=good quality of life, minimal clinically important difference 8.1). Results Of 3967 publications, 12 were included (10 randomised controlled trials with 2454 patients randomised, of whom 72% (n=1766) had cancer). In no trial was integration of specialist palliative care triggered according to patients’ needs as identified by screening. Overall, there was a small effect in favour of specialist palliative care (SMD 0.16, 95% confidence interval 0.01 to 0.31; QLQ-C30 global health/QoL 4.1, 0.3 to 8.2; n=1218, six trials). Sensitivity analysis showed an SMD of 0.57 (−0.02 to 1.15; global health/QoL 14.6, −0.5 to 29.4; n=1385, seven trials). The effect was marginally larger for patients with cancer (0.20, 0.01 to 0.38; global health/QoL 5.1, 0.3 to 9.7; n=828, five trials) and especially for those who received specialist palliative care early (0.33, 0.05 to 0.61, global health/QoL 8.5, 1.3 to 15.6; n=388, two trials). The results for pain and other secondary outcomes were inconclusive. Some methodological problems (such as lack of blinding) reduced the strength of the evidence. Conclusions Specialist palliative care was associated with a small effect on QoL and might have most pronounced effects for patients with cancer who received such care early. It could be most effective if it is provided early and if it identifies though screening those patients with unmet needs. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42015020674.

Available data do not allow for a definite answer on whether religious/spiritual beliefs effectively influence bereavement as most studies suffer from weaknesses in design and methodological flaws. Further research is needed. Recommendations for further research are given.

Analysis 2.1. Comparison 2 Nalfurafine versus placebo, Outcome 1 A) Pruritus on VAS scale (0-10 cm) in UP participants; parallel-group design; Wikström b: Wikström a (week 2) + period 1 Wikström b.. .. .. .. .. . Analysis 2.2. Comparison 2 Nalfurafine versus placebo, Outcome 2 A) Sensitivity analysis: random-effects model; pruritus on VAS scale (0-10 cm) in UP participants; parallel-group design; Wikström b: Wikström a (week 2) + period 1

BackgroundIn the modern hospital environment, increasing possibilities in medical examination techniques and increasing documentation tasks claim the physicians' energy and encroach on their time spent with patients. This study aimed to investigate how much time physicians at hospital wards spend on communication with patients and their families and how much time they spend on other specific work tasks.MethodsA non-participatory, observational study was conducted in thirty-six wards at the University Medical Center Freiburg, a 1700-bed academic hospital in Germany. All wards belonging to the clinics of internal medicine, surgery, radiology, neurology, and to the clinic for gynaecology took part in the study. Thirty-four ward doctors from fifteen different medical departments were observed during a randomly chosen complete work day. The Physicians' time for communication with patients and relatives and time spent on different working tasks during one day of work were assessed.Results374 working hours were analysed. On average, a physician's workday on a university hospital ward added up to 658.91 minutes (10 hrs 58 min; range 490 - 848 min). Looking at single items of time consumption on the evaluation sheet, discussions with colleagues ranked first with 150 minutes on average. Documentation and administrative requirements took an average time of 148 minutes per day and ranked second. Total time for communication with patients and their relatives was 85 minutes per physician and day. Consequently, the available time for communication was 4 minutes and 17 seconds for each patient on the ward and 20 seconds for his or her relatives. Physicians assessed themselves to communicate twice as long with patients and sevenfold with relatives than they did according to this study.ConclusionsWorkload and time pressure for physicians working on hospital wards are high. To offer excellent medical treatment combined with patient centred care and to meet the needs of patients and relatives on hospital wards, physicians should be given more time to focus on core clinical tasks. Time and health care management solutions to minimize time pressure are required. Further research is needed to assess quality of communication in hospital settings.

From July until September 2004, all deaths were registered prospectively in all departments of Freiburg University Hospital, Germany, a large teaching hospital with approximately 55,000 inpatient admissions per year. A retrospective chart review was done for all patients who died during this time period using a tool validated in two American and Australian projects. Main outcome measures were patients' identification as dying by medical staff, Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) orders, and the presence of comfort care plans. The cohort comprised 226 consecutive death events. Seven percent of patients had a written advance directive. DNR orders were available for 65% of patients and were entered into the charts on average 5.9 days prior to death. Thirty-eight percent of charts had evidence that staff recognized that the patients were dying. This prognosis was noted on average 3.8 days prior to death. According to chart notes, clinicians documented cancer patients as dying more frequently than patients with cardiovascular disease (P=0.029). In the chart entries, comfort care plans were completed fully for 14% and partially for 27% of patients. On average, comfort care plans were put in place nine days prior to death. Cancer patients had significantly more frequent comfort care plans than patients with cardiovascular diseases (P<0.001). In 59% of medical charts, there was no evidence of a comfort plan. Approximately one-third of dying patients received active life-sustaining treatment at time of death. These data highlight the need for systematic strategies to monitor patients' needs and to improve quality of care, especially during the last four days before death.