Family Involvement at the End-of-Life and Receipt of Quality Care

Abstract

Context. Most patients will lose decision-making capacity at the end of life. Little is known about the quality of care received by patients who have family involved in their care.Objectives. To evaluate differences in the receipt of quality end-of-life care for patients who died with and without family involvement.Methods. We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 34,290 decedents from 146 acute and long-term care Veterans Affairs facilities between 2010 and 2011. Outcomes included: 1) palliative care consult, 2) chaplain visit, and 3) death in an inpatient hospice or palliative care unit. We also assessed ''do not resuscitate'' (DNR) orders. Family involvement was defined as documented discussions with the health care team in the last month of life. We used logistic regression adjusted for demographics, comorbidity, and clustered by facility. For chaplain visit, hospice or palliative care unit death, and DNR, we additionally adjusted for palliative care consults.Results. Mean (SD) age was 74 (AE12) years, 98% were men, and 19% were nonwhite. Most decedents (94.2%) had involved family. Veterans with involved family were more likely to have had a palliative care consult, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 4.31 (95% CI 3.90e4.76); a chaplain visit, AOR 1.18 (95% CI 1.07e1.31); and a DNR order, AOR 4.59 (95% CI 4.08e5.16) but not more likely to die in a hospice or palliative care unit.Conclusion. Family involvement at the end of life is associated with receipt of palliative care consultation and a chaplain visit and a higher likelihood of a DNR order. Clinicians should support early advance care planning for vulnerable patients who may lack family or friends. J Pain Symptom Manage 2014;48:1108e1116.

Nursing Students’ Attitudes towards Caring for Dying Patients

“…It interprets that family involvement influences the students' perceptions and attitudes toward the end of life care. Sudore, Casarett, Smith, Richardson, and Ersek (2014) mention that family involvement in palliative care increases the patients' quality of life. Nevertheless, the lowest score is item "Families need emotional support to accept the behavior changes of the dying person".…”

Quality of End-of-Life Care Provided to Patients With Different Serious Illnesses

“…The unweighted number of comorbidities was categorized as: none, 1–3 comorbidities, and ≥4 comorbidities. 33,34 …”

Evaluation of a strategy for enrolling the families of critically ill patients in research using limited human resources

“…In addition to these patients and families being less likely to participate in research requiring in-person consent, these families may be less likely to benefit from multidisciplinary family meetings, participating in bedside rounds, communication facilitators[15], decision-aids requiring clinician supervision[14,45,46], and palliative care consultation [47]. Our data also suggest that the association between the absence of family members at the bedside and patient outcomes is likely confounded by socio-economic status and race.…”