Clinical practice review: outpatient palliative care for the geriatric chronic kidney disease population.

With a growing geriatric population in the United States, there is an increased need for healthcare resources and collaborative care for serious illnesses. Patients with chronic illnesses including chronic kidney disease (CKD) often experience severe symptoms and face complex decisions, many of which develop or occur in the outpatient setting. Though many of these symptoms overlap between different chronic illnesses, the CKD population remains largely untapped in terms of access to said resources; until recently, the focus in palliative care has been largely in the oncologic population. Older patients with CKD may benefit from additional tools and resources provided from collaborative care models specifically involving palliative care, especially as this population is high risk for experiencing lack of support. In this review, we use case vignettes to discuss the key concepts and roles of outpatient palliative care and how they can be integrated into the nephrology care of older patients with advanced kidney disease. These highlighted concepts include shared decision-making, selective deprescribing and symptom management, psychosocial support, and advance care planning. We also review different outpatient models for integrative palliative care, and the roles and resources of the palliative multidisciplinary team within these models and how these models can potentially be implemented in the care of CKD patients.

Calciphylaxis and Intractable Pain in a Veteran with Psychological Trauma History.

Guidelines are lacking for patients with calciphylaxis on renal replacement therapy, often leading to difficulty optimally treating these patients. A 60-year-old male veteran receiving hemodialysis presented with calciphylaxis of the left lower extremity and intractable pain. His condition was complicated by chronic back pain, long-term opioid therapy, and psychological trauma history. He was ultimately transferred to a calciphylaxis treatment center but was unable to tolerate further treatments due to sepsis and hemodynamic instability. He was transitioned to comfort measures and died in the hospital. Addressing complicated pain physiologies and complex trauma is challenging even in well-resourced tertiary medical centers. Despite the availability of calciphylaxis therapies and trauma-informed care, there remains a high rate of suffering and mortality in this patient population. There is much work to be done in this cohort, particularly when considering the implications of past traumatic experiences on health care engagement and pain management.