While it is hard to think about, advanced care planning is beneficial to family members and caregivers when a health crisis arises. A recent report suggests that the type of hospice care a patient receives until his or her death influences the family’s opinion on the quality of that care. Researchers surveyed more than 1100 family members of older patients who died from lung or colorectal cancer and found that family members were more likely to rate end-of-life care higher based on three factors: care lasting more than three days, avoidance of admission into the intensive care unit of a hospital and if the death occurred outside a hospital. These results emphasize the importance of discussing end of life options with patients and family members as an advanced care plan. To learn more about advanced care planning, click here.
The full study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, can be accessed here.
