Management of Nausea and Vomiting in Palliative Care - Real Life Data From a Palliative Care Unit in Germany.
Jennifer Marie Berner-Sharma, Claudia Bausewein, Constanze Rémi
PMID 39819071WHAT IT FOUND
Nausea or vomiting affected 172 of 330 palliative inpatients.
Most episodes had drug-related problems, mainly interactions. Some continuous antiemetics were given without reported symptom burden. Nurses should check symptom burden and medication safety.
Key findings
01Nausea or vomiting occurred in 172 of 330 included patients.
02Drug-related problems were documented in 213 of 230 episodes, mostly interactions.
03Continuous antiemetic therapy was given in 19 of 41 episodes despite no reported symptom burden.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done in one palliative care unit in Germany, so results may not apply to other settings. It was retrospective and relied on records, so missing or poor documentation could affect the findings. Only patients with a length of stay greater than two days were included. The study did not compare treatments, so it cannot show which antiemetic caused symptom change. Drug-related problems were judged by pharmacists, and not all interactions were clinically relevant. No regular ECG monitoring was done, so QT effects were not measured. The symptom-reduction goal could only be assessed when day 1 symptom burden was documented, so some episodes were excluded.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no funding for the research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the antiemetic regimens described here are proven to relieve symptoms. The study did not compare treatments, and continuous antiemetics were given in 19 of 41 episodes with no reported symptom burden. Drug-related problems were documented in 213 of 230 episodes.