Take Home Points on Patient and Family Satisfaction
Most Americans die due to chronic illnesses.
Modern medicine has increased longevity. As a result, most Americans
will live for many years with a chronic illness before they die.
Hospitals are the most common site of death followed by nursing home
units.
Deaths in nursing home units are expected to double in the next two
decades.
Many dying patients receive aggressive and often futile therapeutic
interventions in the last weeks of life.
Physicians often misunderstood patient preferences, especially when
patients did not want high-technology, life-extending care.
Almost 1 in 2 patients who die in hospitals and 1 in 4 patients who
die in nursing homes die in significant pain.
Most dying patients experience many distressing symptoms that can
be alleviated with skilled palliative care.
Family members express dissatisfaction with end-of-life care received
by their loved ones.
Appropriate provision of palliative care (early in the illness trajectory)
and hospice care (in the last 6 months of life) can significantly improve
care of patients with serious illnesses.
