Palliative care strategies in the management of people with serious cases of COVID-19.
Eleandro do Prado, Camila Wohlenberg Camparoto, Angelica Yukari Takemoto and 3 others
PMID 36888747WHAT IT FOUND
Palliative care teams reported virtual visits, phone calls, recorded messages, reorganization and training to keep families connected during severe illness.
Time and device or internet access were main barriers.
Key findings
01Virtual visits were reported in 78% of included works, team restructuring and professional training in 64%, and interventions to reduce the impact of patient-family separation in 75%.
02Most included works, 64%, addressed recognizing severe and irreversible COVID-19 progression and using palliative, comfort-focused care rather than curative attempts.
03Virtual communication was constrained by staff time and by families' access to devices, internet or the skills to use them.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The included evidence is mostly qualitative, descriptive or survey-based, so it reports experiences and strategies rather than tested effects. The review used a narrow search: original full articles only, three languages, and a pandemic time window. Most included studies came from international institutions, and the authors noted a lack of Brazilian work, so local transferability is uncertain. The included studies were heterogeneous single-team or institution reports, making a broad overview difficult. The supplied text does not report a risk-of-bias or quality appraisal of the included articles.
Declared interests
No funding or conflict-of-interest declaration is included in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that virtual visits or palliative care teams improve patient outcomes. The review mostly synthesizes qualitative and descriptive reports, and family access to devices or internet was a barrier.