Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26519993›Full record

ArticlePatient education and counseling2016

Relationships between personal attitudes about death and communication with terminally ill patients: How oncology clinicians grapple with mortality.

Rachel A Rodenbach, Kyle E Rodenbach, Mohamedtaki A Tejani, Ronald M Epstein

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Patient education and counseling, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
21citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
4.0field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.

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  16. Assessing Medical Students' Confidence towards Provision of Palliative Care: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021
    Article
  17. Dialysis Regret: Prevalence and Correlates.Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN · 2020
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Rachel A RodenbachUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. Electronic address: rachel_rodenbach@urmc.rochester.edu.
Kyle E RodenbachUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Mohamedtaki A TejaniDepartment of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Ronald M EpsteinDepartment of Family Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, 1381 South Ave, Rochester, NY 14620, USA.
University of Rochester · USUniversity of Rochester Medical Center · US

Funding

RCT of Patient, Caregiver and Physician Communication Coaching in Advanced CancerR01CA140419 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI EPSTEIN, RONALD M., KRAVITZ, RICHARD L · 2011 to 2015
$2.7M
EPA EP-C-15-001NCI NIH HHS R01 CA140419
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveClinician discomfort with death may affect care of patients but has not been well-studied. This study explores oncology clinicians' attitudes surrounding their own death and how these attitudes both affect and are affected by their care of dying patients and their communication with them.

methodsQualitative interviews with physicians (n=25), nurse practitioners (n=7), and physician assistants (n=1) in medical or hematologic oncology clinical practices about communication styles, care of terminally ill patients, and personal perspectives about mortality.

resultsClinicians described three communication styles used with patients about death and dying: direct, indirect, or selectively direct. Most reported an acceptance of their mortality that was "conditional," meaning that that they could not fully know how they would respond if actually terminally ill. For many clinicians, caring for dying patients affected their outlook on life and death, and their own perspectives on life and death affected their approach to caring for dying patients.

conclusionAn awareness of personal mortality may help clinicians to discuss death more openly with patients and to provide better care. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Efforts to promote self-awareness and communication training are key to facilitating clear communication with and compassionate care of terminally ill patients.

Indexed as

Attitude of Health PersonnelAttitude to DeathCommunicationPhysician-Patient RelationsTerminally IllAdultDeathFemaleHumansInterviews as TopicMaleMedical OncologyMiddle AgedNeoplasmsPhysiciansQualitative ResearchDeath and dyingEnd of life careOncologyPhysician–patient communicationQualitative

Identifiers

PMID26519993
PMCPMC5955702
OpenAlexW1962509172

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.