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Patients at end of life often express a desire to travel, and many have requests that go unfulfilled. Studies show that a majority of patients have a desire to return to their place of birth to die when presented with the option, yet goals-of-care conversations do not routinely include travel desires for numerous reasons. Patients faced with a life-limiting illness are at greater risk of depression, withdrawal, denial, anger, and feelings of helplessness. When palliative care teams assist patients with end-of-life travel, they empower them with a greater sense of control over the dying process. Improving goals-of-care conversations regarding medical travel begins with well-developed communication skills and a knowledge of available options. This article primarily focuses on the recommendation of medical travel as a goals-of-care comfort measure for the palliative care patient.

Nursing students in various degree programs experience an array of stressful and demanding circumstances. As such, nursing faculty have a unique opportunity to provide student-centered teaching from a holistic comfort perspective. Holistic comfort is a concept supported by evidence symbolizing more than just the relief of pain. It involves caring for the whole person. The majority of research surrounding holistic comfort has been focused on patients-but, what about students in nursing? In this article, the authors aim to explain and expand upon the role of teaching from a holistic comfort perspective. Holistic comfort has been well documented in the literature and it is delivered in one (or more) of 4 different contexts: the physical, psychospiritual, sociocultural, and/or environmental context. Implementing a program of teaching focused on comforting students has implications for nursing education, organizational policy, and nursing practice.

Objective: It is unknown what proportion of patients who undergo emergent neurosurgical procedures initiate comfort care (CC) measures shortly after the operation. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the proportion and predictive factors of patients who initiated CC measures within the same hospital admission after undergoing emergent neurosurgery., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all adult patients who underwent emergent neurosurgical and endovascular procedures at a single center between 2009 and 2014. Primary and secondary outcomes were initiation of CC measures during the initial hospitalization and determination of predictive factors, respectively., Results: Of the 1295 operations, comfort care was initiated in 111 (8.6%) during the initial admission. On average, CC was initiated 9.3 ± 10.0 days postoperatively. One-third of the patients switched to CC within 3 days. In multivariate analysis, patients > 70 years of age were significantly more likely to undergo CC than those < 50 years (70-79 years, p = 0.004; > 80 years, p = 0.0001). Two-thirds of CC patients had been admitted with a cerebrovascular pathology (p < 0.001). Admission diagnosis of cerebrovascular pathology was a significant predictor of initiating CC (p < 0.0001). A high Hunt and Hess grade of IV or V in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage was significantly associated with initiation of CC compared to a low grade (27.1% vs 2.9%, p < 0.001). Surgery starting between 15:01 and 06:59 hours had a 1.70 times greater odds of initiating CC compared to surgery between 07:00 and 15:00., Conclusions: Initiation of CC after emergent neurosurgical and endovascular procedures is relatively common, particularly when an elderly patient presents with a cerebrovascular pathology after typical operating hours.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the USA. Symptom burden in patients with advanced lung cancer is very high and has a negative impact on their quality of life (QOL). Palliative care with its focus on the management of symptoms and addressing physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and existential suffering, as well as medically appropriate goal setting and open communication with patients and families, significantly adds to the quality of care received by advanced lung cancer patients. The Provisional Clinical Opinion (PCO) of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as well as the National Cancer Care Network's (NCCN) clinical practice guidelines recommends early integration of palliative care into routine cancer care. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of palliative care in lung cancer and will examine the evidence and recommendations with regard to a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to symptom management, as well as discussions of goals of care, advance care planning, and care preferences.