Home

Patients Benefit From End-of-Life Talks With Docs

Wed, 01/24/2001 - 1:00am — Karen Stevenson
Description: 

Doctors are strongly encouraged to initiate discussions about end-of-life directives with their older patients, according to a study in the January issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The study was led by William M. Tierney of Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

Researchers found that doctors think patients should initiate such a conversation and patients think the doctor should bring it up, so no one is doing it. In additions, they found that some doctors thought their patients won't like such conversations, and that they might worry patients needlessly, especially older patients. However, the study reports that elderly or chronically ill patients who had such conversations with their primary care physician were happy they did.

They surveyed 686 patients who were at least 75 years old or at least 50 years old with serious underlying diseases, along with their 87 primary care physicians, and found that 98% of the participants had never spoken with their primary care physician about end of life details. 51% of the patients who discussed end-of-life directives evaluated their later office visits as excellent, but only 34% of those who did not have such discussions rated later visits as well.

Doctors are strongly encouraged to initiate discussions about end-of-life directives with their older patients, according to a study in the January issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The study was led by William M. Tierney of Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

Researchers found that doctors think patients should initiate such a conversation and patients think the doctor should bring it up, so no one is doing it. In additions, they found that some doctors thought their patients won't like such conversations, and that they might worry patients needlessly, especially older patients. However, the study reports that elderly or chronically ill patients who had such conversations with their primary care physician were happy they did.

They surveyed 686 patients who were at least 75 years old or at least 50 years old with serious underlying diseases, along with their 87 primary care physicians, and found that 98% of the participants had never spoken with their primary care physician about end of life details. 51% of the patients who discussed end-of-life directives evaluated their later office visits as excellent, but only 34% of those who did not have such discussions rated later visits as well.