UpToDate, a leading clinical decision support resource for physicians, in July added palliative care as the newest of its 22 medical specialties. The palliative care section covers a variety of topics focused on improving symptoms and providing best quality of life for patients with serious illnesses. The new service resulted from two years of extensive collaboration by a team of 100 leading palliative care specialists from around the world, led by Harvard Medical School palliative care physicians J. Andrew Billings, MD, and Susan D. Block, MD, reviewing and grading the body of research and scientific literature on palliative care.
Related Articles
What Hospitalists Should Know About ICE Visits
December 3, 2014
In the course of a hectic day with a huge patient load, the last thing a hospitalist might expect to handle is a visit from immigration officials demanding access to a patient the federal government...
Language Discordance Increases Risk of Hospital Readmissions
December 3, 2014
Clinical question: Does language discordance increase hospital readmissions or unplanned emergency department (ED) visits? Background: Studies have shown that language discordance impacts...
Moderate IV Fluid Resuscitation is the Goldilocks of Sepsis Mortality in ICU Patients
December 3, 2014
Clinical question: In patients presenting to the intensive care unit (ICU) for sepsis, which intravenous (IV) fluid resuscitation strategy (restrictive, liberal, or moderate) is optimal for lower...
5 Best Practices and Resources for Interhospital Transfers
December 3, 2014
Transfer of patients between hospitals has long been a part of hospitalist life, and most hospitalists can recall any number of challenging situations. Driven by a desire to improve these situations...