November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, and we've curated a selection of recent palliative care journal articles on end-of-life (EoL) topics for your reference. Staying current with the latest palliative care research supports clinical excellence, as clinicians who engage with new research are more likely to implement evidence-based symptom management strategies and culturally responsive approaches to patient care.

Patients and their families experience improved outcomes when clinicians apply up-to-date evidence, achieve more effective symptom control, facilitate shared decision-making, and incorporate innovative care approaches. Continued engagement with emerging research also fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and advocacy, ensuring that palliative care remains person-centered throughout the year, not just for November.

Today, we're highlighting several of the most recent EoL-related articles published across leading medical journals.

Rethinking Palliative Care Through Three Institutional Ethnographic Stories of People Living with  Homelessness and Life-Limiting Illness

  • Inquiry: A Journal of Medical Care Organization, Provision and Financing, November 2025
  • Description: Part of a larger study, this paper examines how health and social systems shape the need for community-based palliative and end-of-life care, using three stories from clients of the Community Allied Mobile Palliative Partnership.
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The Unseen Challenges: A Qualitative and Multicenter Study Exploring the Experiences of Palliative Care Professionals During COVID-19 Crisis

  • Inquiry: A Journal of Medical Care Organization, Provision and Financing, November 2025
  • Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries at different times and to varying degrees, placing significant pressure on healthcare systems and challenging the delivery of end-of-life care. Palliative care professionals faced unprecedented circumstances, requiring rapid adaptation to maintain the quality of care for vulnerable populations. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the experiences, challenges, and perspectives of healthcare professionals providing palliative care in Brazil and England during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Integrated Multimodal Approaches in Pediatric Palliative Oncology: A Systematic Review Focused on Infants and Toddlers

  • In Vivo, November 2025
  • Description: Pediatric palliative care, particularly in oncology, is aimed at improving the quality of life for children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions. Many of the approaches discussed in this review have been tested or are particularly relevant for oncological settings, especially during advanced disease stages or end-of-life care.
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What Do We Know About Hospice Enrollment for Nursing Home Residents with Cognitive Disabilities? A Systematic Review

  • Journal of Palliative Medicine, October 2025
  • Description: This review is the first to systematically examine hospice enrollment among NH residents with cognitive disabilities. Hospice enrollment varied across studies but was consistently lower for nursing home decedents with cognitive disabilities compared to those without.
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Developing Person-Centered Care in Hospices Through the Voice and Leadership of Nursing: Lessons from the United Kingdom

  • Frontiers in Health Services, October 2025
  • Description: Nursing leadership and the voice of nurses are crucial for developing person-centered care in hospices. Concerns have been raised that, as palliative care has evolved from its original vision and become more integrated into the mainstream healthcare system, it has increasingly become medicalized. This paper presents an emancipatory practice development program aimed at enhancing the visibility and voice of nursing and nurse leadership to improve person-centered care in hospices across the United Kingdom.
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Personalized Music and Hypnosis Interventions in Palliative and End-of-Life Care at Home: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

  • Complementary Therapies in Medicine, October 2025
  • Description: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of a personalized intervention integrating pre-recorded hypnosis and/or music in palliative and end-of-life care, and explore patient preferences and experiences.
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Seeking Something Beyond Themselves: A Concept Analysis of Spiritual Awakening Experiences at the End of Life

  • Nursing Reports, October 2025
  • Description: Spiritual awakening is a fundamental occurrence linked to the fulfillment of our spiritual needs when facing an existential crisis, such as the proximity of death. However, its conceptual boundaries need to be clarified to provide qualified and humanized palliative care. Therefore, this study aims to identify the key attributes, antecedents, consequents, and empirical referents of spiritual awakening at end of life, as well as to clarify the concept's existing ambiguities.
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Pediatric Palliative Care Patient Transfers of Location at End-of-Life: A 7-Year Retrospective Study

  • Healthcare, October 2025
  • Description: Transferring pediatric palliative care patients nearing the end of life between care locations is clinically and logistically complex, potentially causing significant stress for families and patients. This study aimed to determine how frequently such transfers occurred in the last two weeks of life, noting the documented reasons for these changes.
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Look forward to more journal-focused topics in the coming weeks. 

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