Photo: ©iStock/Lacheev

(06/04/2025) Researchers from the Durham and Minneapolis VAs and the Mayo Clinic created a program to help rural family caregivers prepare for the transition of patients with severe and life-limiting illnesses from the hospital to home. Transitional palliative care is an eight-week program administered by palliative care nurses by video and designed to teach family caregivers how to prepare for the patient's care needs and communicate effectively with the health care team. The researchers randomly assigned caregivers to either the new program or a control group that received monthly phone calls. Caregivers who received the training felt better prepared to meet the patient's care needs, such as identifying and addressing emerging issues before they became dire. The results show pairing rural family caregivers with palliative care nurses for video training can lead to better care of seriously ill patients, although more work may be needed to improve caregivers’ communication skills. (Journal of Palliative Medicine, May 19, 2025)