Date of Award

5-2021

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS)

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

First Advisor

Jeanie McHugo

Second Advisor

Daryl Sieg

Keywords

Palliative medicine; Palliative care; Advanced care planning; Pulmonary disease; Chronic obstructive; Quality of life

Abstract

The purpose of this scholarly project is to determine if the integration of palliative care into COPD management provides an improvement in symptom burden associated with quality of life and end of life care when compared to the standard of care. A review of the literature was performed using the following electronic databases, and the use of keywords and mesh terms were used to define the set of literature that would be critically analyzed. A total of 16 articles achieved the necessary criteria for review and critical assessment. The literature reviewed various aspects related to symptom burden and symptom management associated with the disease, advanced care planning documentation, integration of palliative home care, and challenges surrounding integrating palliative care into standard care plans. The data shows that there was little statistical support for integrating palliative care to improve quality of life through more appropriate management of symptom burden associated with the disease. The literature did find support for the addition of palliative home care for improvements in advanced care planning. The scholarly project concluded that more research is needed to truly assess if palliative care has increased benefits in COPD management because there continues to be challenges that surround the integration of this specialty.

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