Crisis Symptom Management and Patient Communication Protocols Are Important Tools for All Clinicians Responding to COVID-19

Brynn A Bowman; Anthony L Back; Andrew E Esch; Nadine Marshall

doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.03.028

Crisis Symptom Management and Patient Communication Protocols Are Important Tools for All Clinicians Responding to COVID-19

J Pain Symptom Manage. 2020 Aug;60(2):e98-e100. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.03.028. Epub 2020 Apr 7.

Authors

Brynn A Bowman¹, Anthony L Back², Andrew E Esch³, Nadine Marshall³

Affiliations

¹ Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Center to Advance Palliative Care, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA. Electronic address: brynn.bowman@mssm.edu.
² VitalTalk, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
³ Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Center to Advance Palliative Care, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.

Abstract

Symptom management and skilled communication with patients and families are essential clinical services in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Although palliative care specialists have training in these skills, many frontline clinicians from other specialties do not. It is imperative that all clinicians responding to the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis have access to clinical tools to support symptom management and difficult patient and family communication.

Keywords: COVID-19; Palliative care; communication; coronavirus; dyspnea; symptom management.

MeSH terms

COVID-19
Clinical Protocols
Coronavirus Infections / therapy*
Disease Management
Health Communication / methods*
Health Personnel / education
Humans
Palliative Care / methods
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral / therapy*