End-of-life care news & clinical findings for physicians

• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 10 Issue 4)
  • Geography, Not Patient Preference, Determines Intensity of End-of-Life Care
  • Early Pain-Specific Advance Care Planning and Directives Urged for Dementia Patients
  • Clinical Trial Patients: An Overlooked Population for Palliative Care Delivery
  • Education Video Helps Clinicians Understand Patients’ Faith-Based Views of End-of-Life Care
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 10 Issue 3)
  • Women Far Likelier Than Men to Prefer Palliative Care When Facing Advanced Cancer
  • Surgeons Favor Palliative/End-of-Life Care, but Identify Multiple Critical Barriers to Ensuring Its Provision
  • Major Delays in Hospice Referrals of Patients Receiving Hemodialysis Demonstrate Need for Integrated Palliative Care
  • ‘The Pause’ Honors a Life Lost and the Care Team’s Efforts at the Bedside
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 10 Issue 2)
  • High Hospitalization Rate Near Death, Low Use of Hospice Among Younger Cancer Patients Raise Concerns
  • National Guidelines Updated to Emphasize Cancer Patients’ Needs for Palliative Care and Transition to Hospice
  • Physicians Urged to Take Advantage of Available Instructional Tools for Breaking Bad News
  • Clinicians Encouraged to Use Patients’ Bucket Lists to Enhance Goals-of-Care Discussions
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 10 Issue 1)
  • Heart Disease Now Most Common Non-Cancer Hospice Admitting Diagnosis
  • Trends Track Change in End-of-Life Care: Increasing Complexity of Care Needs, Unnecessary Aggressive Care, Short Hospice Enrollment
  • Rehospitalization, Longer Stays Linked to Unmet Needs for Symptom Control in Patients with Advanced Cancer
  • Advance Directive Completion Remains Unacceptably Low
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 9 Issue 4)
  • End-of-Life Experiences Vary Widely in Advanced Lung Cancer Patients
  • Hospitalists Play Increasingly Prominent Role in Referring Seriously Ill Patients to Hospice and Conducting Goals-of-Care Discussions
  • Neurologists Urged to Address Shared Decision-Making Issues in Severe Stroke Cases
  • Successful Advance Care Planning Campaign Opens with Teaser, ‘WGYLM?’
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 9 Issue 3)
  • Transitions in Care Settings Common, Often Multiple, Near the End of Life
  • Emergency Medicine Physicians Offered Quick Tools for Assessing Patients’ Palliative and Hospice Care Needs
  • Automatic Palliative Care Consultation Yields Substantial Improvements in Quality End-of-Life Care for Advanced Cancer Patients
  • Many Late Hospice Referrals, Wide Variation Found among Practices of Oncology Divisions and Physicians
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 9 Issue 2)
  • Frank Communication with Families Linked to Fewer End-of-Life Hospitalizations from Nursing Homes
  • Physicians Offered Guide to Timely Discussions of Care Goals for Patients with ESRD and other Serious Illnesses
  • Step-Wise Guide to Serious Illness Conversation
  • Hospice Provides ‘Excellent’ End-of-Life Care for Loved ones, Majority of Families Report
  • Physicians Urged to Help Patients with Correct Completion of POLST Forms to Avoid ‘Decisions by Default’
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 9 Issue 1)
  • Most Heart Failure Patients Want to Discuss Prognosis and End-of-Life Care Plans, Study Finds
  • Two-Fold Rise in Ventilator Use among Advanced Dementia Patients Linked to ICU Bed Increase
  • Half of Patients with Advanced Cancer Believe Their Disease is Curable, International Study Finds
  • Pallipedia: Online Hospice/Palliative Care Dictionary for Clinicians
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 8 Issue 4)
  • Factors Identified That Influence Patients’ Desire for End-of-Life Discussions with Physicians
  • Video Decision Aid May Help Heart Failure Patients Make Well-Informed Choices
  • Surrogates’ Prognostic Expectations Differ from Those of Physicians More Than Half the Time
  • Hospice Use in Nursing Homes Results in Medicare Savings
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 8 Issue 3)
  • Burden of Activity-Restricting Symptoms Decreases Markedly Following Hospice Admission
  • Physicians Receive Less Intensive End-of-Life Care than the General Population
  • Dying at Home May Improve Survival in Patients Receiving Palliative/Hospice Care
  • Emergency Use and Admissions Drop Following Hospice Enrollment, But Hospice Stays are Short
  • Physicians Favor Medicare Reimbursement for ACP Discussions
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 8 Issue 2)
  • Hospice Care Reduces Hospital Days across Diagnoses, National Study Finds
  • Hematologists Often Initiate End-of-Life Conversations with Patients ‘Too Late’
  • Palliative Care Initiated in Emergency Department Found to Improve Quality of Life
  • Physician Body Language Varies by Race of Dying Patient
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 8 Issue 1)
  • Prognostic Disclosure Can Benefit, Not Harm, Patients with Terminal Illness
  • Late-Stage Lung Cancer Patients Need to Avoid Overtreatment, Find ‘Delicate Balance’ in Radiation Therapy Near End of Life
  • Caregivers Express High Satisfaction with Hospice Regardless of Patient Diagnosis
  • Poll: 89% of Americans Favor End-of-Life Discussions with Physicians
  • Short Hospice Stay, Hospital Death Yield Low Caregiver Ratings for Quality of Care
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 7 Issue 4)
  • Comorbidities Found More Predictive of Hospice Eligibility than Functional Status
  • Low Rate of Advance Directive Documentation among Heart Failure Patients Prompts “Call to Action” from Researchers
  • Advance Care Planning in Heart Failure: A Clinical Approach
  • Most Physicians Take Responsibility for Relieving Spiritual Suffering near the End of Life, National Study Finds
  • Simple End-of-Life Care Planning Tool Helps Patients Initiate the Conversation
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 7 Issue 3)
  • Earlier Hospice Referrals among Recommendations to Improve End-of-Life Care
  • Hospital Clinicians Identify Patient and Family Factors as Chief Barriers to Goals of Care Discussions
  • Clinician Resources: Having ‘The Conversation’ Can Help Improve Quality of Life for Dying Patients
  • Earlier Support Reduces Risk for Depression among Caregiver
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 7 Issue 2)
  • End-of_Life Care Planning Does Not Take Away Hope
  • Hospice Use Remains High as Median Length of Service Continues to Decline
  • Both Regional and Patient Factors Influence Receipt of Intensive Procedures at Life’s End
  • Few Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients Receive Palliative Care
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 7 Issue 1)
  • Age and Hospital Length of Stay Found to Predict One-Year Mortality in COPD Patients
  • Decision Aids for Advance Care Planning: Potentially Powerful Tools in Need of Validation and Expansion
  • Feeding Tubes Should Be Withheld or Withdrawn in Advanced Dementia Patients, Professional Society Advises
  • Begin Patient Encounters with, ‘Hello, My Name Is,’ Urges Terminally Ill Physician
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 6 Issue 4)
  • Stopping Statin Use in Terminally Ill Patients Found Beneficial
  • Neurologists Offered Practical Introduction to Palliative Care
  • Most Physicians Would Enroll in Hospice if Terminally Ill, But Often Delay Discussing Hospice with Patients
  • AMEN: Clinicians Offered Conversational Tool When Patients Are Hoping for a Miracle
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 6 Issue 3)
  • Patients with Hematologic Malignancies Enter Hospice ‘Late or Never,’ Study Finds
  • Stroke Patients: First Guidelines Issued for Palliative and End-of-Life Care
  • Practical End-of-Life Communication Approaches
  • More Older Americans Complete Advance Directives, Yet Hospitalization Rates Continue to Rise
  • Addressing Timely Hospice Entry for ‘Unbefriended’ Patients
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 6 Issue 2)
  • The ‘Elephant in the Room’: Physicians Urged to Introduce Hospice and Palliative Care
  • Integrating Geriatrics and Palliative Care
  • Many Patients and Surrogates Are Unprepared for Cardiac Device Deactivation
  • Some Proxies Misunderstand Do-Not-Hospitalize Orders for Dementia Patients
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 6 Issue 1)
  • Spiritual Support from Medical Teams May Result in Less Aggressive End-of-Life Care
  • Strategies Suggested for Reducing Racial Disparities in End-of-Life Care
  • Care Delivered to Advanced Dementia Nursing Home Patients Varies by Medical Plan Type
  • It’s Time to Revive the Medical Culture of Care and Caring, Expert Urges
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 5 Issue 4)
  • Community-Dwelling Older Patients Have High Symptom Burden in Last Years of Life
  • Professional Medical Organization offers Recommendations for Decision-Making in Palliative Care
  • Hospital Physicians Offered ‘Structured Guidance’ for End-of-Life Care Planning Discussions
  • Advanced Lung Cancer Patients Hold Inaccurate Beliefs about Benefits of Radiation Therapy
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 5 Issue 3)
  • The Concept of a Good Death Includes Relief of Suffering, Comfort Care, and Family Support
  • Emergency Physicians Have ‘Window of Opportunity’ for Timely Hospice Referral
  • Elements of Early, Integrated Palliative Care Encounters Identified
  • Completion of Advance Directives Urged as Routine Part of Patient Care
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 5 Issue 2)
  • Discharging patients to home hospice reduces risk of hospital readmission
  • Patients and clinicians consider spiritual care important at the End of Life
  • Hospitalization of advanced cancer patients must not be “missed opportunity” for addressing end-of-life needs
  • COPD patients: clinicians offered literature-based approach to discussing end-of-life care
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 5 Issue 1)
  • Patients with heart failure need earlier discussion of hospice care
  • Patient treatment preferences have little influence on receipt of chemotherapy
  • Elderly patients found to use Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility benefit rather than hospice at end of life
  • Racial disparities in hospice use persist among patients with cancer
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 4 Issue 4)
  • Family Members Yearn for Better Communication and Earlier Hospice Care
  • Older Adults Not Enrolled in Hospice Have High Rates of Emergency Department Use in the Last Month of Life
  • Study Identifies Factors Linked to Better Quality of Life at End of Life
  • Early Integration of Palliative Care into Standard Oncology Care Improves Treatment at the End of Life
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 4 Issue 3)
  • Quality Measures for Palliative and End-of-Life Care Endorsed
  • COPD Patients who have End-of-Life Discussions More Likely to Give High Ratings for Quality of Care
  • Aggressive Care at End of Life is Common Among Cancer Patients, But Varies both Across and within Types of Hospitals
  • Relationships between Caregivers and Hospice Patients found to Vary Among Racial/Ethnic Groups
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 4 Issue 2)
  • Hospice Care Report: Median and Average Lengths of Service Continue to Drop
  • Improved Access to Hospice for Patients with Advanced Dementia Identified as Top Priority
  • Surgical Intervention Common among Medicare Patients in the Final Year of Life
  • Heart Failure Patients and Their Families Desire Earlier Palliative Care centered on Both Patients and Caregivers
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 4 Issue 1)
  • Physicians Urged to Ensure Access to Hospice for an Often “Invisible’ Population
  • Time-Limited Trials can Help Patients and Families Shift Focus to Hospice Care
  • Burdensome End-of-Life Transitions Found Common among Nursing Home Patients with Advanced Dementia
  • Having an Advance Directive Does Not Decrease Survival in Patients
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 3 Issue 4)
  • Facing Death in Supportive Setting Improves Quality of Life, Extends Survival
  • Discussing Goals of Care and Initiation of Palliative Care in Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD): ‘The Earlier the Better’
  • One-Third of Tube-Fed Dementia Patients Are Restrained Near Death
  • Lung Cancer Patients Receive Aggressive End-of-Life Care in Both US and Canada
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 3 Issue 3)
  • Determining Prognosis in Dementia Patients Remains Elusive
  • Step-Wise Approach to Surrogate Decision Making Honors Patients’ Unique Values and Surrogates’ Needs
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology Issues Statement Urging Physicians to Integrate Early Palliative and End-of0Life Care Discussions into Cancer Care
  • Hospice Rotation Broadens Med Students’ Perspective on Healing
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 3 Issue 2)
  • ‘Surprise’ Question Found Effective As Screening Tool for Identifying Cancer Patients with Poor Prognosis
  • Patients Who Die In Hospitals have Worse Quality of Life Than Those Dying with Hospice Care at Home
  • COPD Patients Have Symptom Burden and Palliative Care Needs Similar to Patients with Advanced Cancer
  • Optimal End-of-Life Communication Can Give patients What They Want: ‘Truth, Touch, and time’
  • Patient-Reported End-of-Life Preferences Are Rarely Documented in Their Medical Records
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Volume 3 Issue 1)
  • Mainstream News Portrays Cancer Treatments in Overly Positive Light
  • Palliative Sedation: Ethically and Methodologically Different
  • Goal-Directed Interventions to Relieve Suffering Deemed Palliative ‘Treatment”
  • Intervention to Support End-of)Life Decisions via Telephone May Improve Quality of Care and Reduce Medicare Costs
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Vol 2 Issue 4)
  • Patients Involved in Hospice Decision Three Times More Likely to Die at Home
  • Kidney Disease Patients Report Lack of Support for Their End-of-Life Needs and Preferences
  • Medical Students Feel Moderately Prepared to Deliver End-of-Life Care
  • Likelihood of Receiving Antipsychotic Medication in Nursing Homes Linked to Facility-Level Prescribing Rates
• Montgomery Hospice: Hospice Matters for Physicians (Winter 2010)
  • End-of-Life Care Physicians Share Strategies for Avoiding burnout
  • Conversations with Patients can Reveal What is Meant by ‘I Want Everything’
  • Researchers Develop Scale for Predicting Seven-Day Survival in Cancer Patients
  • Early Physician Communication May Lead to More Hospice Use Among Metastatic Lung Cancer Patients
  • Terminally-Ill Patients at Risk of Undertreatment or Overtreatment of Dyspnea