NIH State-of-the-Science Conference Statement on improving end-of-life care.

CONCLUSIONS: (1) Circumstances surrounding end of life are poorly understood, leaving many Americans to struggle through this life event. (2) The dramatic increase in the number of older adults facing the need for end-of-life care warrants development of a research infrastructure and resources to enhance that care for patients and their families. (3) Ambiguity surrounding the definition of end-of-life hinders the development of science, delivery of care, and communications between patients and providers. (4) Current end-of-life care includes some untested interventions that need to be validated. (5) Subgroups of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, and disease states experience end-of-life care differently, and these differences remain poorly understood. (6) Valid measures exist for some aspects of end of life; however, measures have not been used consistently or validated in diverse settings or with diverse groups. (7) End-of-life care is often fragmented among providers and provider settings, leading to a lack of continuity of care and impeding the ability to provide high-quality, interdisciplinary care. (8) Enhanced communication among patients, families, and providers is crucial to high-quality end-of-life care. (9) The design of the current Medicare hospice benefit limits the availability of the full range of interventions needed by many persons at the end of life. PMID: 17308546 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Source: NIH Consensus and State of the Science Statements - Category: American Health Tags: NIH Consens State Sci Statements Source Type: research