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The patient with cancer nearing the end of life may have a number of symptoms that can reduce quality of life. By planning ahead with the patient and family, a combination of physical and psychological interventions can be initiated by the GP to alleviate some of these. Those commonly encountered, and discussed in this article by Rod MacLeod, are fatigue, nausea and vomiting, dyspnoea and cough, hypercalcaemia, haemorrhage, superior vena cava obstruction and spinal cord compression
Ahmedzai S, Muers M (Eds). Supportive Care in Respiratory Disease. Oxford Scholarship Online; 2011. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192631411.001.0001
Cherny NI, Fallon MT, Kaasa S, et al (Eds). Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, sixth edition. Oxford University Press; 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780198821328.001.0001
MacLeod RD, Van den Block L (Eds). Textbook of Palliative Care. Springer, Cham; 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0
MacLeod RD, Macfarlane S. The Palliative Care Handbook, ninth edition. Wellington, NZ: Hospice New Zealand; 2019. https://www.hospice.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Palliative-Care-Handbook.pdf
Morgan-Jones P, MacLeod RD, Ellis P, Lynch J. Lobster for Josino. Sydney, Australia: HammondCare Media; 2018.
Pharmacist prescribers Linda Bryant and Leanne Te Karu discuss positive polypharmacy for heart failure. Current evidence shows the intensive implementation of four medications offers the greatest benefit to most patients with heart failure, with significant reductions in cardiovascular mortality, heart failure hospitalisations and all-cause mortality
