Skin findings in palliative care patients

Journal of Palliative Medicine
Nina K HansraEva H Chittenden

Abstract

The prevalence of dermatologic disease and its effect on quality of life has not been well studied in patients with advanced illness. We sought to describe skin findings in inpatient palliative care patients and determine how often they are addressed by the primary or palliative care teams. We collected patient demographic and clinical data from the medical record, performed total body skin examinations, and determined how often significant cutaneous findings were documented in the chart. We also characterized skin findings as uncomfortable and treatable. Twenty palliative care patients participated in the study over a 2-month period. Common findings included skin breakdown (20/54; 37%), skin infections (14/54; 26%), inflammatory dermatoses (9/54; 17%), and skin conditions related to systemic disease (7/54; 13%) or treatment of systemic disease (4/54; 7%). Most of these conditions were not documented by primary or palliative care clinicians. Eighty percent of the patients had uncomfortable, but treatable skin conditions of which 62% (13/21) were undocumented or incorrectly documented. These limited data suggest the need for palliative care clinicians to conduct more complete skin examinations, and to improve their knowledge of ...Continue Reading

References

Mar 1, 1986·The American Journal of Medicine·R E Kalb, M E Grossman
Nov 9, 2000·The British Journal of Dermatology·D HarlowP J Dykes
Jul 10, 2001·Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery·M M ChrenL P Sands
Jul 26, 2002·Clinical and Experimental Dermatology·Anuradha JayaprakasamD McGibbon
Apr 29, 2005·Journal of Pain and Symptom Management·Cheryl Barnabé, Paul Daeninck
Jan 13, 2006·The British Journal of Dermatology·M Shah, M Coates
Apr 25, 2006·Journal of Palliative Medicine·Amy McDonald, Pauline Lesage
Apr 13, 2007·American Journal of Clinical Dermatology·Arjen F Nikkels, Gérald E Piérard

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Citations

May 18, 2017·Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft = Journal of the German Society of Dermatology : JDDG·Lenche NeloskaBiljana Petreska Zovic
Jun 8, 2017·Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft = Journal of the German Society of Dermatology : JDDG·Lenche NeloskaBiljana Petreska Zovic
Aug 29, 2020·Palliative & Supportive Care·Miguel JuliãoPedro Mendes-Bastos
Oct 16, 2021·BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care·Catherine PisanoBrett Keeling

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