title: Update in Hospice and Palliative Care.
abstract: The goal of this update in hospice and palliative care is to summarize and critique research published between January 1 and December 31, 2014 that has a high potential for impact on clinical practice.
  
  
  
  To identify articles we hand searched 22 leading journals, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Fast Article Critical Summaries for Clinicians in Palliative Care. We also performed a PubMed keyword search using the terms "hospice" and "palliative care."
  
  
  
  We ranked candidate articles based on study quality, appeal to a breadth of palliative care clinicians, and potential for impact on clinical practice.
  
  
  
  In this manuscript we have summarized the findings of eight articles with the highest ratings and make recommendations for clinical practice based on the strength of the resulting evidence.
authors.affiliation: 1 Duke Palliative Care, Division of General Internal Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine , Durham, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Nathan A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , New York, New York.
authors.forename: Jay R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.affiliation: 3 School of Nursing, University of Alabama , Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: J Nicholas
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Dionne-Odom
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , New York, New York.|4 Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , New York, New York.
authors.forename: Cardinale B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: 1 Duke Palliative Care, Division of General Internal Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine , Durham, North Carolina.|5 Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine , Durham, North Carolina.|6 Duke University Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University , Durham, North Carolina.|7 Geriatrics Research, Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center , Durham, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Kimberly S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D017051:Hospice Care; D006738:Hospices; D010166:Palliative Care