Patterns of Communication About Serious Illness in the Years, Months, and Days before Death
(2022) In Palliative Medicine Reports 3(1). p.116-122- Abstract
Background: Communication with patients and families about serious illness impacts quality of life and helps facilitate decision-making.
Objective: To elucidate the pattern of communication about serious illness for patients who have died in an inpatient setting.
Design: Three hundred patients from the Swedish Registry of Palliative Care 2015-2017 were randomly selected for manual chart review.
Setting: Patients who died in a palliative care, oncology, or internal medicine unit in Sweden were selected.
Measurements: We report on the frequency of conversations at three time points, 6 months or longer before death ("Years"), 15 days-6 months before death ("Months"), and 0-14 days before death ("Days"). We also... (More)
Background: Communication with patients and families about serious illness impacts quality of life and helps facilitate decision-making.
Objective: To elucidate the pattern of communication about serious illness for patients who have died in an inpatient setting.
Design: Three hundred patients from the Swedish Registry of Palliative Care 2015-2017 were randomly selected for manual chart review.
Setting: Patients who died in a palliative care, oncology, or internal medicine unit in Sweden were selected.
Measurements: We report on the frequency of conversations at three time points, 6 months or longer before death ("Years"), 15 days-6 months before death ("Months"), and 0-14 days before death ("Days"). We also report the timing of the conversation about dying.
Results: A total of 249 patients were included after exclusions; they had an average of 2.1 conversations (range 1-6). The first conversation took place a median of 53 days before death and the last conversation took place a median of 9 days before death. Separate conversations with the next of kin took place a median of two days before death. We could verify a conversation about dying in only 156/249 (63%) medical records.
Conclusions: Communication about serious illness between clinicians, patients, and families occurs iteratively over a period before death. Measuring the quality of communication about serious illness using a years, months, and days framework may help ensure that patients and families have sufficient information for medical and personal decision making.
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- author
- Tranberg, Mattias LU ; Jacobsen, Juliet LU ; Fürst, Carl Johan LU ; Engellau, Jacob and Schelin, Maria E C LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-08-04
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- communication, end of life, patients, physicians, serious illness, transition
- in
- Palliative Medicine Reports
- volume
- 3
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 116 - 122
- publisher
- Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:36059906
- scopus:85137956075
- ISSN
- 2689-2820
- DOI
- 10.1089/pmr.2022.0024
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f38ad51b-3837-4b33-8f6d-a39ce0767ff0
- date added to LUP
- 2022-09-20 13:27:39
- date last changed
- 2024-09-19 23:42:53
@article{f38ad51b-3837-4b33-8f6d-a39ce0767ff0, abstract = {{<p>Background: Communication with patients and families about serious illness impacts quality of life and helps facilitate decision-making.</p><p>Objective: To elucidate the pattern of communication about serious illness for patients who have died in an inpatient setting.</p><p>Design: Three hundred patients from the Swedish Registry of Palliative Care 2015-2017 were randomly selected for manual chart review.</p><p>Setting: Patients who died in a palliative care, oncology, or internal medicine unit in Sweden were selected.</p><p>Measurements: We report on the frequency of conversations at three time points, 6 months or longer before death ("Years"), 15 days-6 months before death ("Months"), and 0-14 days before death ("Days"). We also report the timing of the conversation about dying.</p><p>Results: A total of 249 patients were included after exclusions; they had an average of 2.1 conversations (range 1-6). The first conversation took place a median of 53 days before death and the last conversation took place a median of 9 days before death. Separate conversations with the next of kin took place a median of two days before death. We could verify a conversation about dying in only 156/249 (63%) medical records.</p><p>Conclusions: Communication about serious illness between clinicians, patients, and families occurs iteratively over a period before death. Measuring the quality of communication about serious illness using a years, months, and days framework may help ensure that patients and families have sufficient information for medical and personal decision making.</p>}}, author = {{Tranberg, Mattias and Jacobsen, Juliet and Fürst, Carl Johan and Engellau, Jacob and Schelin, Maria E C}}, issn = {{2689-2820}}, keywords = {{communication; end of life; patients; physicians; serious illness; transition}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{08}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{116--122}}, publisher = {{Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.}}, series = {{Palliative Medicine Reports}}, title = {{Patterns of Communication About Serious Illness in the Years, Months, and Days before Death}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/pmr.2022.0024}}, doi = {{10.1089/pmr.2022.0024}}, volume = {{3}}, year = {{2022}}, }