When Will Death Be? Legal Considerations and Regulatory Safeguards in Predictive Modelling Applications for End-of-Life Care

Advance care planning (ACP) is generally considered as valuable in guiding treatments that are aligned with patients' preferences. Despite its benefits, there are some practical and legal difficulties in its implementation. Predictive modelling is increasingly used in clinical decision-making, for example, in predicting patients' life expectancy, thus enabling clinicians to initiate timely ACP conversations. This development could transform the way end-of-life conversations are implemented. In this article we advocate for the use of predictive modelling in assisting clinicians to initiate ACP conversations provided several safeguards are in place to address ethical concerns that arise. Predictive modelling applications resolve several practical and legal difficulties in conducting end-of-life conversations. Ethical concerns such as explicability, accountability, trustworthiness and reliability of these models in clinical settings are important considerations. However, safeguards are needed to address these ethical concerns to ensure the models are appropriately supportive of patient needs and interests.

Facilitators and Barriers for Initiating Conversations About End of Life

Background

Conducting a conversation about wishes for treatment at end of life (EOL) has been shown to improve EOL care for patients and relatives. Still, only a minority of physicians conduct the conversation, which might lead to unwanted interventions and treatments.

Objectives

The purpose of this survey was to examine which factors facilitate and hinder physicians across a wide range of health care facilities to initiate the conversation about wishes for treatment at EOL.

Design

A questionnaire survey based on a Delphi-developed questionnaire.

Setting/Subjects

The questionnaire was sent to both hospital physicians and general practitioners (GPs) in a Danish region.

Results

More than 3000 physicians were invited to participate in the survey. Of these, 782 responded, 622 working at a hospital department, and 160 from general practice clinics. Results showed that senior physicians, GPs, and physicians working in a medical department feel best equipped to conduct the conversation. Moreover, senior physicians pointed to their experience as physicians as being of great importance for conducting the conversation, whereas junior physicians found training in conducting the conversation as an important factor.

Conclusion

Our study indicates that different factors depending on the health care setting and the seniority of the physician facilitate or hinder physicians from conducting the conversation about wishes for treatment at EOL. Being aware of these differences and making a concerted effort depending on setting and seniority might help implement and conduct the conversation.

Diversity in Advance Care Planning and End-Of-Life Conversations: Discourses of Healthcare Professionals and Researchers

To meet the end-of-life needs of all patients, ongoing conversations about values and preferences regarding end-of-life care are essential. Aspects of social identity are associated with disparities in end-of-life care outcomes. Therefore, accounting for patient diversity in advance care planning and end-of-life conversations is important for equitable end-of-life practices. We conducted 16 semi-structured interviews to explore how Dutch healthcare professionals and researchers conceptualized diversity in advance care planning and end-of-life conversations and how they envision diversity-responsive end-of-life care and research. Using thematic discourse analysis, we identified five 'diversity discourses': the categorical discourse; the diversity as a determinant discourse; the diversity in norms and values discourse; the everyone is unique discourse, and the anti-essentialist discourse. These discourses may have distinct implications for diversity-responsive end-of-life conversations, care and research. Awareness and reflection on these discourses may contribute to more inclusive end-of-life practices.

Communicating With Nursing Home Residents About End of Life

Approximately 33% of the 1.2 million older individuals residing in nursing homes have the capacity to discuss their preferences for end-of-life care, and 35% will die within their first year in the nursing home. These conversations necessary to promote care consistent with the resident's preferences are often limited and most often occur when the resident is actively dying. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to understand the resident's perspectives on end-of-life communication in the nursing home and suggest approaches to facilitate this communication. We interviewed 46 participants (16 residents, 10 family members, and 20 staff) in a Southeast Florida nursing home from January to May 2019. The data were analyzed using descriptive and pattern coding and matrices to decipher preliminary categories and thematic interpretation within and across each participant group. Two themes emerged from this secondary analysis that residents assume others know their end-of-life preferences, and past experiences may predict future end-of-life choices. Residents and family members were willing to discuss end-of-life care. Study findings also suggested that past experiences with the end-of-life and critical illness of another could impact residents' and family members' end-of-life care decisions, and that nurses' recognition of subtle signs of a resident's decline may trigger provider-initiated end-of-life conversations. Future research should focus on strategies to promote earlier end-of-life discussions to support independent decision-making about end-of-life care in this relatively dependent population of older adults.

Barriers to Conservative Management Conversations: Perceptions of Nephrologists and Fellows-in-Training

Background: Not all treatments are appropriate for all individuals with kidney failure (KF). Studies suggest that conversations surrounding end-of-life decisions occur too late or not at all. Objectives: The aim of this research was to identify perceived barriers to such discussions among nephrologists and nephrology fellows to determine if barriers differ by experience level. Design: Phase I consisted of semistructured telephone interviews with nephrologists and fellows. Phase II included focus groups with nominal group technique in which providers ranked barriers to discussions about not initiating/withholding dialysis (NIWD) or discontinuing dialysis (DD). Setting/Subjects: U.S. community-based nephrologists and nephrology fellows. Results: Seven interviews were conducted with each group (n = 14) in phase I. Many barriers cited were similar among providers, however, differences were related to fellows' position as trainees citing the "reaction of their attending/supervising physician or other providers" as a barrier to NIWD and "lacking their attending physician's support" as a barrier to DD. Six focus groups were conducted, nephrologists (n = 22) and fellows (n = 18), in phase II. The highest ranked barrier to NIWD for nephrologists was "discordant opinions among patient and family"; fellows ranked "time to hold conversation" highest. Nephrologists' highest barrier to DD was the "finality of the decision (death)"; fellows ranked the "inertia of the clinical encounter" highest. Conclusions: Capturing the perspectives of nephrologists and fellows concerning the barriers to conservative management of patients with KF may inform the development of targeted education/training interventions by experience level focused on communication skills, conflict resolution, and negotiation.

Perspectives of elders and their adult children of Black and minority ethnic heritage on end-of-life conversations: A meta-ethnography

BACKGROUND

People of Black and minority ethnic heritage are more likely to die receiving life supporting measures and less likely to die at home. End-of-life care decision making often involves adult children as advance care planning is uncommon in these communities. Physicians report family distress as being a major factor in continuing with futile care.

AIM

To develop a deeper understanding of the perspectives of elders of Black and minority ethnic heritage and their children, about end-of-life conversations that take place within the family, using a meta-ethnographic approach.

DESIGN

Systematic interpretive exploration using the process of meta-ethnography was utilised.

DATA SOURCES

CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed and PsycINFO databases were searched. Inclusion criteria included studies published between 2005 and 2019 and studies of conversations between ethnic minority elders and family about end-of-life care. Citation snowballing was used to ensure all appropriate references were identified. A total of 13 studies met the inclusion criteria and required quality level using Critical Appraisal Skills Programme.

RESULTS

The following four storylines were constructed: 'My family will carry out everything for me; it is trust'; 'No Mum, don't talk like that'; 'I leave it in God's hands'; and 'Who's going to look after us?' The synthesis reflected the dichotomous balance of trust and burden avoidance that characterises the perspectives of Black and minority ethnic elders to end-of-life care planning with their children.

Practicing End-of-Life Conversations: Physician Communication Training Program in Palliative Care

A Physician Communication Training Program (PCTP) utilizing scripts based on actual family conferences with patients, families, and the health care team was developed at one medical center in the Northeast. The program was designed, adapted, and directed by a palliative care social worker. The primary goal of the program is to help residents and attending physicians build better communication skills in establishing goals of care and in end-of-life planning. The scripts focus on improving physicians' basic skills in conducting family meetings, discussing advance directives, prognosis, brain death, and withdrawal of life support. Excerpts from the scripts utilized in the program are included. Feedback from participants has been positive, with all respondents indicating improvement in their capacity to take part in these challenging conversations.