Lien Centre for Palliative Care

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Lien Centre for Palliative Care

The Lien Centre for Palliative Care (LCPC) is a leading palliative care research and education centre

The Lien Centre is established by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (“Duke-NUS”) in collaboration with the Lien Foundation with active involvement from National Cancer Centre Singapore and Singapore Health Services. The Lien Centre is a research and education centre of Duke-NUS and under the purview of the Duke-NUS Academic & Research Committee (“ARC”).

05/08/2026

🧠 How do we better assess disease severity in people living with severe dementia?

Accurate assessment is essential for delivering quality care and advancing research—but not all tools perform equally well.

Our study found that BANS-6, a streamlined version of the Bedford Alzheimer Nursing-Severity Scale, outperformed both the original BANS and the commonly used FAST scale in assessing severe dementia among community-dwelling individuals.

🔍 Key findings:
✅ More reliable and psychometrically robust than the original BANS
✅ Better predicts important clinical outcomes, including pneumonia, eating difficulties, malnutrition, pressure sores, and tube feeding
✅ FAST showed limited ability to predict clinical outcomes in severe dementia

These findings suggest that less can be more—a shorter, refined assessment tool may provide greater clinical value and support better care for people living with severe dementia.

📝 Chin Yee Cheong, Philip Yap, Tze Pin Ng, Boon Yeow Tan, Chetna Malhotra

📖 International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

🔗 Read the full article for more — link in the comments!

04/08/2026

"What comes to mind when you think of palliative care?"

📋Last week, we put this question to our social media community.

The most common responses were:
• End-of-life care
• Improving quality of life

These responses reflect the different ways people understand palliative care.

🔎We were curious to explore different perspectives on this very topic. Thus began our conversation with 3 of LCPC’s Research Assistants in a new series— LCPC Stories: From the Ground.

🫀Our Senior Research Assistants work on a variety of studies covering topics from end stage renal failure, heart failure and advanced cancer to paediatric palliative care and advance care planning (ACP).

▶️ Swipe through the slides to read what they had to say.

💬Which perspective resonates with you most? Let us know in the comments.

27/07/2026

🎊LCPC celebrates the fruitful mid-year run of the Serious Illness Conversations (SIC) Workshop!

🔥One of the highlights of the SIC workshops is our dedicated faculty. Whether as speakers or facilitators, our faculty have a shared passion for empowering healthcare professionals to conduct the SIC.

🤝Frequent discussions held by the faculty to review the workshop ensure improvements in the learning experience for subsequent runs.

💪Through equipping participants with practical skills and sharing experiences of using the Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG), we hope learners walk away with the boldness to engage in quality, person-centred communication with their patients.

🔗If you would like to be a part of this movement, find out more about the SIC workshop— link in the comments!

16/07/2026

🎉 Another successful run of the Professional Certificate in Palliative Care for Social Workers (PCCSW) has come to a close!

💙 A heartfelt thank you to all our learners for your active participation, thoughtful discussions, and willingness to learn alongside one another throughout the course. We are also deeply grateful to our speakers and facilitators for sharing their expertise and delivering such enriching and insightful sessions.

✨ One of the highlights this year was the group presentations, where participants from different organisations came together to exchange ideas and perspectives on topics such as legacy planning. Several groups even incorporated experiential activities into their presentations, creating an engaging, interactive, and memorable learning experience for everyone.

🤝 At PCCSW, learning goes beyond the classroom. Through interactive lectures, case discussions, role plays, experiential activities, and peer learning, participants gain practical knowledge and skills that they can confidently apply in supporting patients with serious illness and their families.

📅 Thinking of deepening your knowledge and skills in palliative care? We'd love to welcome you to the next run of PCCSW in April–May 2027!

🔗 Find out more on our website via the link in the comments.

🌱 We look forward to welcoming the next cohort of learners!

09/07/2026

🧠As dementia cases continue to rise across Asia, integrating palliative care into dementia care is becoming increasingly important.

🔑Key insights from our review:
- Identifies barriers to implementing palliative dementia care across Asia.
- Explores opportunities to strengthen person-centred, community-based care.
- Proposes a research agenda to advance culturally relevant end-of-life care for people living with dementia.

💞Every person living with dementia deserves care that prioritises dignity, comfort, and quality of life. Together, we can build a more compassionate future for dementia care in Asia.

🔗Head over to the link in the comments to read the full article!

06/07/2026

🎉Last Call: Cardiac Supportive Care Course 2026!

📣Registrations for the Aug 2026 intake of the Cardiac Supportive Care Course (CSC) ends this week!

📅 E-learning: 20 July – 20 Aug 2026
👥 Face-to-face teaching sessions: 4 – 6 Aug 2026, 8.00am – 5.00pm
🏠 Venue: Assisi Hospice, 832 Thomson Road Singapore 574627

🔗Secure your seats before registration closes this Friday, 10 July— link in the comments!

02/07/2026

🤔Are all interventions providing high-value care?

🔽Low-value care practices remain pervasive, and are a particular risk for seriously ill patients at the end of life (EOL).

🔔At best, such practices may marginally prolong life, but more often they compromise patients’ quality of life whilst driving substantial healthcare expenditure.

❌However, behavioural nudges alone are insufficient to shift entrenched hospital practices.

🔎What can be done to improve patient EOL care experiences?

📖 Age and ageing
✍️Chetna Malhotra , Ellie B Andres , Louisa Poco

🔗Read the full paper to find out more— link in the comments!

23/06/2026

📊 Can a simple risk prediction tool encourage more people to get screened for colorectal cancer (CRC)?

Key findings from a Singapore-based study:

🔹 CRC screening uptake was significantly higher among patients who received personalised risk stratification (63.3% vs 33.3%).

🔹 The risk prediction tool was easy to use and well accepted by both patients and primary care physicians.

🔹 Common barriers to screening included cost, lack of awareness, and fear of diagnosis.

🔹 Patient education and empowerment may help improve participation in preventive screening.

💡 Personalised risk assessment could be a valuable tool in increasing colorectal cancer screening uptake and supporting earlier detection.

🔗Head over to the link in the comments for the full article!

17/06/2026

📱 Supporting dementia caregivers through digital innovation

Caring for a loved one with dementia can be challenging, and caregivers often need support that is timely, personalized, and easy to access.

Our latest study introduces CareBuddy, a mobile app designed with caregivers, for caregivers. Key features include:
🧠 Personalized assessments and tailored caregiving solutions
🤖 An AI-powered chatbot for on-demand support
📍 GPS-based location monitoring for added peace of mind
🤝 Peer support and social networking opportunities
🏥 Telemedicine and healthcare provider integration
💙 Resources to support caregiver well-being and self-care

✨ What did caregivers think?
• High usability and satisfaction ratings during pilot testing
• Positive feedback on dementia care content and caregiver support resources
• Strong appreciation for interactive features, including the AI chatbot and service directory

As we continue evaluating CareBuddy's impact on caregiver outcomes, this work highlights the potential of technology to empower caregivers and enhance dementia care.

📝 Malhotra, C., Yue, Y., Ramakrishnan, C., Shah, S., Chen, W., Yap, P., Cheong, C. Y., Teo, I., Wee, S. L., Lan, X., Chen, Y., Chong, C. S., Huang, X., & Chua, I.

📖 JMIR Aging

🔗 Read the full article for more — link in the comments!

12/06/2026

🎉LCPC’s Researcher Spotlight is back!

🌟Today we feature Dr Ellie Andres, Senior Research Fellow and experienced health services researcher with an interest in research to improve care for vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.

🔽Read about her journey below!

🔗Interested in reading Dr Ellie’s work? Find more information here: https://www.duke-nus.edu.sg/directory/detail/andres-helen-bostwick

Address

8 College Road
Singapore
169857

Website

https://www.duke-nus.edu.sg/lcpc

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