Informed shared decision-making in planning for the end of life

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 378-383
Author(s):  
Jane Price
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Shared Decision

How individual ethical frameworks shape physician trainees’ experiences providing end-of-life care: a qualitative study

2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2020-106690
Author(s):  
Sarah Rosenwohl-Mack ◽  
Daniel Dohan ◽  
Thea Matthews ◽  
Jason Neil Batten ◽  
Elizabeth Dzeng
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Ethical Frameworks

ObjectivesThe end of life is an ethically challenging time requiring complex decision-making. This study describes ethical frameworks among physician trainees, explores how these frameworks manifest and relates these frameworks to experiences delivering end-of-life care.DesignWe conducted semistructured in-depth exploratory qualitative interviews with physician trainees about experiences of end-of-life care and moral distress. We analysed the interviews using thematic analysis.SettingAcademic teaching hospitals in the United States and United Kingdom.ParticipantsWe interviewed 30 physician trainees. We purposefully sampled across three domains we expected to be associated with individual ethics (stage of training, gender and national healthcare context) in order to elicit a diversity of ethical and experiential perspectives.ResultsSome trainees subscribed to a best interest ethical framework, characterised by offering recommendations consistent with the patient’s goals and values, presenting only medically appropriate choices and supporting shared decision-making between the patient/family and medical team. Others endorsed an autonomy framework, characterised by presenting all technologically feasible choices, refraining from offering recommendations and prioritising the voice of patient/family as the decision-maker.ConclusionsThis study describes how physician trainees conceptualise their roles as being rooted in an autonomy or best interest framework. Physician trainees have limited clinical experience and decision-making autonomy and may have ethical frameworks that are dynamic and potentially highly influenced by experiences providing end-of-life care. A better understanding of how individual physicians’ ethical frameworks influences the care they give provides opportunities to improve patient communication and advance the role of shared decision-making to ensure goal-aligned end-of-life care.

scholarly journals Pet Grief: Tools to Assess Owners’ Bereavement and Veterinary Communication Skills

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Testoni ◽  
Loriana De Cataldo ◽  
Lucia Ronconi ◽  
Elisa Silvia Colombo ◽  
Cinzia Stefanini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Care Practice ◽  
Counseling Services ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Internal Reliability ◽  
Pet Bereavement

In Italy, there are still very few studies on the psychological impact of losing a pet. The need to fill this gap springs from the fact that pet loss counseling services are increasingly being activated. The aim of this study is the Italian adaptation of instruments for veterinary counseling services. The survey instruments adapted were: Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ) to describe the individual experience of pet-grief; Regret of Bereaved Family Members (RBFM) to assess the family regret; Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire (SDM-Q-9) for decision making in end of life; Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure (CARE) to assess the veterinarian relational empathy during clinical encounters. All the instruments obtained good internal reliability, and the results of the confirmative factor analysis of all the Italian versions were in accordance with the original ones. The correlational analysis among the variables evidenced the following aspects: the more the owner feels involved by the veterinarian in the decision making process the more the veterinarian is perceived by the owner as empathetic; when the veterinarian is perceived as empathic and the decision making is shared the owners’ pet bereavement distress and regrets are reduced; negative dimensions of bereavement (grief, guilt, anger, intrusive thoughts and decisional regrets) are strictly linked to each other, therefore if one dimension increases or decreases the others do too. The path analysis suggests that developing a veterinary relationship-centered care practice may be beneficial for pet owners facing end-of-life issues and the death of their companion animals since it showed that shared-decision making strategies and empathic communication may reduce negative dimensions of bereavement that may complicate grief. Interestingly, adopting shared decision-making strategies may contribute to be perceived as more empathic. These aspects may be taken into consideration in end-of -life communication training in veterinary medicine.

Abstract 156: Facilitating End-of-Life Decision-Making and Preparedness Planning Among Heart Failure Patients Hospitalized for Advanced Disease

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J Fendler ◽  
Keith M Swetz ◽  
John A Spertus ◽  
Bethany A Austin
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Supportive Care ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Advanced Disease ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Goals Of Care ◽  
Advanced Therapies ◽  
Healthcare Proxy

Background: To address the increasingly strident call for better, more informed shared decision-making about treatment decisions and goals of care in patients with end-stage heart failure (HF), we designed and implemented a supportive care intervention for hospitalized patients with a very poor prognosis. Methods: All patients admitted to the advanced HF service at a single hospital over a 6-mo. period were screened for inclusion criteria (deemed non-candidacy for LVAD/transplantation and high likelihood for death or persistently poor quality of life at 6 months, based on the Allen risk score). Enrollees were given a written exercise, The Conversation Starter Kit, to complete with their healthcare proxy before an outpatient visit with a HF nurse practitioner (NP) trained in supportive care techniques. The intervention provided at this visit consisted of 5 domains: disease understanding, symptom control, legal matters, goals of care, and the role of the healthcare proxy. The KCCQ, PEACE Illness Acceptance Scale, Decisional Conflict Scale, and Kaldjian’s Goals of Care were collected at enrollment and 1 month after the intervention, along with 6-month outcomes of readmission and death. Results: Of 77 patients admitted to the service who were not candidates for advanced therapies, 16 met eligibility criteria. Nine declined participation and 7 of a planned 10 were enrolled; the pilot was terminated early due to low enrollment. Only 2 patients completed the intervention; reasons for not completing varied for the 5 remaining patients. (Table) Despite a pre-existing relationship between patients and NPs, rigorous facilitator training, and a comprehensive, evidence-based, outpatient intervention, significant barriers to implementation included patient reluctance/fear, uncertainty surrounding disease progression, time constraints of completing the intervention within a scheduled clinic visit, and lack of efficacy due to patients having too-advanced disease. Conclusions: An intervention to engage very high-risk, advanced HF patients in shared decision-making about end-of-life care failed to be successfully and sustainably implemented. Future work should assess the feasibility and efficacy of designing an early and iterative intervention in a larger population of HF patients with less advanced disease.

Shared Decision-Making at the End of Life

2021 ◽  
pp. 335-342
Author(s):  
Antonio G. Spagnolo ◽  
Barbara Corsano ◽  
Dario Sacchini
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Shared Decision
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