Summary of an Academic Article, Research Paper Example

Introduction

This paper summarizes Lorenz et al. (2008), which is a systematic review about “evidences for improving palliative care at end of life” (p. 147). In the following sections, the purpose and questions of the review are identified, and the methodology used to conduct the study is described. A synopsis of the outcomes of the study is provided and conclusions about the overall worth of the study are drawn.

Purpose and Questions

The main purpose of Lorenz et al. (2008) was to consolidate existing information about palliative care at end of life from different credible sources. In particular, the article sought to determine what critical elements were considered by clinicians in addressing end-of-life concerns of patients, what implications can be drawn from definitions of end-of-life with regard to the benefits that patients can derive from palliative approaches, what modes of palliative treatment worked best based on different studies conducted, how much different healthcare professionals consult and collaborate with one another in improving end-of-life care practices, and what support and assessment elements were found most effective in helping professional and filial caregivers.

Methodology

In order to answer the research questions that it posed, the study of Lorenz et al. (2008) made use of a systematic review, in which they gathered information from different sources and synthesized them. In selecting sources of information, the study followed a set of criteria. The articles selected needed to address end-of-life care issues. This included studies that utilized interventions for improving end-of-life care. Second, only English language sources were considered. Third, only articles that were published by institutions in a select group of countries (United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand) were accepted. Eight reviewers conducted the project. A structured system of review was set in order to reduce bias. The sources where the reviewers looked for articles included MEDLINE, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care, and additional references suggested by an advisory panel and other reviewers.

Outcomes

The research project was able to collect 24,423 titles. From this number, 6381 were identified as potentially relevant based on their abstracts. Using the criteria described in the previous section, this number was further narrowed down to 1274. These 1274 articles were reviewed in detail. Overall, the studies selected from these articles which contributed directly to the outcomes of Lorenz et al. (2008) consisted of 33 systematic reviews and 89 intervention studies.

From these selected sources, Lorenz et al. (2008) synthesized the following implications. First, the study found that the prevention and treatment of pain and disease symptoms, developing stronger support systems involving families and other caregivers, helping patients and their loved ones make informed decisions, developing patients’ emotional well-being, and increasing their number of remaining years make up the prevalent concerns in end-of-life care studies. Second, no specific definition of end-of-life care was found to be dominant, although a general theme in the studies reviewed involved helping patients and their loved ones prepare for the inevitable. As for treatments used for end-of-life palliative care, the study found that opioids, nonsteroidals, radionuclides, and radiotherapy produced strong evidences of efficacy for treating physical pain from cancer, while psychotherapy, tricyclics, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were useful for treating depression. Most of the studies reviewed focused on cancer-related pain. Finally, the review was able to find only a few studies on helping professional and filial caregivers bear with end-of-life care giving burdens, and so no clear implications could be drawn.

Conclusion

The study of Lorenz et al. (2008) provided an extensive synthesis of studies about end-of-life palliative care. It was also able to expose possible gaps in literature that may be the subject of future studies.

Reference

Lorenz, K., Lynn, J., Dy, S., Shugarman, L., Wilkinson, A., Mularski, R., Morton, S., Hughes, R., Hilton, L., Maglione, M., Rhodes, S., Rolon, C., Sun, V., and Shekelle, P. (2008). Evidence for improving palliative care at the end of life: a systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine, 148(2):147-59.