End-of-life care in a global pandemic

The last research roundup provided an overview of recent research around prescribing medication and symptom management in end-of-life care. In this month's review of recent publications we will continue to build upon the theme of end-of-life care by looking at end-of-life care in a global pandemic. Many of you will have experience of caring for people at the end of their life whether that be in their home setting, hospice setting or in hospital. Many of the rapid publications in this area are commentary or editorial pieces and much new research is to be expected in these areas.

This editorial considers how end-of-life decision making has been impacted by the SARS-COVID-19 pandemic (Pattison, 2020). They state that the ‘unprecedented and unfolding global has forced healthcare providers globally to consider end-of-life issues in a very rapidly changing scenario. They discuss the need to have end-of-life conversations earlier in chronic illness and the issue of healthcare provider facing shortages of beds to care for people at the end of life. The issue of pandemic planning incorporating end-of-life care is also discussed. NICE guidance is also an area they recommend healthcare professionals use to help with decision making. The COVID 19: Rapid Guidance for Critical Care (National Institute of Clinical Health and Excellence (NICE), 2020) published in response to the pandemic, places the focus on how and when to use frailty on admission to help inform rapid and timely admission decisions. The Association of Palliative Medicine have issued guidance to support palliative care clinicians providing palliative care in secondary care. Like many other things during the pandemic, these are rapidly produced publications and will no doubt change and evolve as COVID-19 does. Another area addressed is the area of bereavement support and the issue of providing this in larger numbers in unexpected situations. There is an expectation that future research and publications will try to address the many aspects of care identified.