ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2017
Engagement in Advance Care Planning and Surrogates' Knowledge of Patients' Treatment Goals.
Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Goals of care discussions in hospitalised patients: systematic review of randomised trials.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2026Pooled it
- Assessing Advance Care Planning Fidelity within the Context of Cognitive Impairment: The SHARE Trial.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2024Trial
- Randomised trial of a serious illness decision aid (Plan Well Guide) for patients and their substitute decision-makers to improve engagement in advance care planning.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2022Trial
- Advance Care Planning-Complex and Working: Longitudinal Trajectory of Congruence in End-of-Life Treatment Preferences: An RCT.The American journal of hospice & palliative care · 2021Trial
- Article
- Preparing Surrogates for Decision-Making: Development and Pilot Testing of Prepare for Their Care.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2025Article
- Advance Care Planning in the Context of Dementia: Defining Concordance.The Gerontologist · 2024Review
- Surrogate decision-makers from historically marginalized populations have lower levels of preparedness for care planning.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2024Article
- Fielding the quality of communication questionnaire to persons with cognitive impairment and their family in primary care: A pilot study.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2023Article
- Surrogate Decision Makers Need Better Preparation for Their Role: Advice from Experienced Surrogates.Journal of palliative medicine · 2022Article
- English and Spanish-speaking vulnerable older adults report many barriers to advance care planning.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2021Article
- A Social Worker-Led Primary Palliative Care Model for Hospitalized Patients Admitted to the Hospital Medicine Service.Palliative medicine reports · 2020Article
- Support Network Factors Associated With Naming a Health Care Decision-Maker and Talking About Advance Care Planning Among People Living With HIV.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2019Article
- Estimating the Impact of Words Used by Physicians in Advance Care Planning Discussions: The "Do You Want Everything Done?" Effect.Critical care explorations · 2019Article
- Article
- Acute ischaemic stroke: challenges for the intensivist.Intensive care medicine · 2019Review
- Assessment of Surrogates' Knowledge of Patients' Treatment Goals and Confidence in Their Ability to Make Surrogate Treatment Decisions.JAMA internal medicine · 2019Article
- Factors Associated with Family Caregivers' Confidence in Future Surrogate Decision Making for Persons with Cancer.Journal of palliative medicine · 2018Article
- Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesA key objective of advance care planning (ACP) is improving surrogates' knowledge of patients' treatment goals. Little is known about whether ACP outside of a trial accomplishes this. The objective was to examine patient and surrogate reports of ACP engagement and associations with surrogate knowledge of goals.
designCohort study
settingPrimary care in a Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
participants350 community-dwelling veterans age ≥55 years and the individual they would choose to make medical decisions on their behalf, interviewed separately. MEASUREMENTS: Treatment goals were assessed by veterans' ratings of 3 health states: severe physical disability, cognitive disability, and pain, as an acceptable or unacceptable result of treatment for severe illness. Surrogates had knowledge if they correctly predicted all 3 responses. Veterans and surrogates were asked about living will and health care proxy completion and communication about life-sustaining treatment and quality versus quantity of life (QOL).
resultsOver 40% of dyads agreed that the veteran had not completed a living will or health care proxy and that there was no QOL communication. For each activity, sizeable proportions (18-34%) disagreed about participation. In dyads who agreed QOL communication had occurred, 30% of surrogates had knowledge, compared to 21% in dyads who agreed communication had not occurred and 15% in dyads who disagreed (P = .01). This relationship persisted in multivariable analysis. Agreement about other ACP activities was not associated with knowledge.
conclusionDisagreement about ACP participation was common. Agreement about communication regarding QOL was modestly associated with surrogate knowledge of treatment goals. Eliciting surrogates' perspectives is critical to ACP. Even dyads who agree about participation may need additional support for successful engagement.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.