Delirium goes by many names, such as acute confusion, metabolic encephalopathy, and acute brain syndrome, which adds to the confusion around diagnosis. Delirium is not a distinct disease state, and…

Case Study Mrs. A. is a 61-year-old, married woman diagnosed approximately 1 year ago with small cell carcinoma of the lung. She has undergone multiple treatments, including several chemotherapy regimens….

Nausea and vomiting are two of the most common and feared symptoms experienced by palliative care patients. It is reasonable to distinguish two different forms of nausea and vomiting in…

The term comorbidity has been defined as follows: The presence of coexisting or additional diseases with reference to an initial diagnosis or with reference to the index condition that is…

Although prognostication is most often associated with survival prediction, it is inextricably linked in a triad with diagnosis and treatment. Indeed, there is always the question of the likelihood (prognosis)…

Negotiating goals of care is an example of patient-centered medical decision making, which differs significantly from the problem-oriented method practiced commonly in health care in the United States. A patient-centered…

Introduction: the Role of Communication in Palliative Care Palliative care is all about the relief of suffering; most tangibly, palliative care aims to relieve the symptoms associated with terminal illness….

Medical care depends on the traditional patient history and physical examination, an approach to patient assessment that has developed gradually over the course of the modern medical era. Variants that…