Clinical Decision Support Resource Now Covers 22 Medical Specialties

WALTHAM, Mass. - Friday, July 25th 2014 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that it has added Palliative Care to UpToDate®, its evidence-based clinical decision support resource, marking the 22nd medical specialty available to UpToDate subscribers. The newly launched specialty covers a range of topics focused on improving symptoms and providing the best possible quality of life for patients facing serious illness.

“The launch is a major breakthrough in mainstreaming this critical aspect of care. No medical specialty is spared the responsibility of providing symptomatic and supportive care to the chronically ill or to patients approaching the end of life,” said UpToDate contributing author, Dr. Nathan Cherny. Dr. Cherny is Associate Professor of Medicine at Ben Gurion University of the Nege in Beer Sheba, Israel and also Director of Cancer Pain and Palliative Medicine Service (Medical Oncology department) at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

He adds, “All clinicians providing care for these patients will benefit from access to evidence-based topics that present current practice in palliative medicine, written by authoritative leaders in the field. I am very proud to have been a partner in this endeavor.”

The addition of Palliative Care is the result of over two years of extensive collaboration led by Dr. Susan D. Block and Dr. J. Andrew Billings, Editors-in-Chief for Palliative Care. Drs. Block and Billings led a team of over 100 leading palliative care specialists from around the world. The team comprehensively reviewed and graded the body of research and scientific literature on palliative care. The resulting UpToDate topics reflect a range of topics focused on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of a serious illness while improving the quality of life for patients and their families. The team continues to monitor new studies and changes to practice in this evolving field of patient care.

“As a growing number of healthcare organizations using UpToDate develop dedicated palliative care resources, the need to offer consistent professional content and patient education in this area is greater than ever,” said Denise Basow, MD, Vice President/General Manager, UpToDate at Wolters Kluwer Health, Clinical Solutions. “We are focused on supporting doctors, patients and their families with the best answers to the challenging questions they face around palliative care.”

Nearly 150 clinical and patient education topics provide consistent recommendations for an interdisciplinary approach as undertaken by emerging hospital-based palliative care programs. The topics integrate the most current information on palliative care into practice, including both clinical and psychosocial issues. Topics include evidence-based recommendations for assessment and management of pain and non-pain symptoms in palliative care patients across many disciplines.

The new specialty is available now to UpToDate subscribers. Topics can be accessed online and via the UpToDate mobile app.

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About Wolters Kluwer Health

Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Serving more than 150 countries worldwide, clinicians rely on Wolters Kluwer Health’s market leading information-enabled tools and software solutions throughout their professional careers from training to research to practice. Major brands include Health Language®, Lexicomp®, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Medicom®, Medi-Span®, Medknow, Ovid®, Pharmacy OneSource®, ProVation® Medical and UpToDate®.

Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company. Wolters Kluwer had 2013 annual revenues of €3.6 billion (US$4.7 billion), employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Follow our official Twitter handle: @WKHealth.

Contacts

Media:

Wolters Kluwer Health | UpToDate

André Rebelo, +1-781-392-2411

Public & Analyst Relations Manager

andre.rebelo@wolterskluwer.com

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