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A Guide to Psychosocial and Spiritual Care at the End of LifeThe Challenges of Prognosis Near the End of Life

A Guide to Psychosocial and Spiritual Care at the End of Life: The Challenges of Prognosis Near... [Nearly half of American internists in a large nationwide survey said they do not volunteer survival prognosesSurvival prognoses. Rather, they make such predictions—and quite reluctantly—only if patients ask. In fact, the more experienced the internists, the more likely they wait for patients to ask explicitly for those predictions. Some doctors surely hope patients never ask. Still, difficult as it is, addressing even bad prognoses openly and honestly may benefit dying patients and their doctors. It may summon latent courage that neither patients nor doctors knew they had. The question may also begin an especially meaningful dialogue between them. That dialogue may help patients clarify their end-of-life goals, cull out the unrealistic ones, and plan ways to accomplish the others. That dialogue may also help patients and doctors together anticipate decisions about withholding life-support treatments and making hospice referrals.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Guide to Psychosocial and Spiritual Care at the End of LifeThe Challenges of Prognosis Near the End of Life

Perkins, Henry S.
Springer Journals — Mar 19, 2017
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Publisher
Springer New York
Copyright
© Springer Science+Business Media LLC 2016
ISBN
978-1-4939-6802-2
Pages
91 –120
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4939-6804-6_5
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Nearly half of American internists in a large nationwide survey said they do not volunteer survival prognosesSurvival prognoses. Rather, they make such predictions—and quite reluctantly—only if patients ask. In fact, the more experienced the internists, the more likely they wait for patients to ask explicitly for those predictions. Some doctors surely hope patients never ask. Still, difficult as it is, addressing even bad prognoses openly and honestly may benefit dying patients and their doctors. It may summon latent courage that neither patients nor doctors knew they had. The question may also begin an especially meaningful dialogue between them. That dialogue may help patients clarify their end-of-life goals, cull out the unrealistic ones, and plan ways to accomplish the others. That dialogue may also help patients and doctors together anticipate decisions about withholding life-support treatments and making hospice referrals.]

Published: Mar 19, 2017

Keywords: Survival prognoses; Fatal diagnosis; End-of-life goals; Palliative performance scale; Prognostic discussions in end-of-life care

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