ArticleBMC palliative care2020
Talking about death and dying in a hospital setting - a qualitative study of the wishes for end-of-life conversations from the perspective of patients and spouses.
Article in BMC palliative care, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Core Competencies for Serious Illness Conversations: An Integrative Systematic Review.Journal of palliative care · 2024Pooled it
- Translation and pilot-testing of the ReSPECT (Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment) form into Danish.Resuscitation plus · 2026Article
- Institutional challenges in responding to Austria's Dying Decree Law: An evaluation from the perspectives of nursing and medical directors.Palliative care and social practice · 2026Article
- Assessing Paramedics' Competence and Training in End-of-Life Care: A Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia.Clinics and practice · 2025Article
- Communicating about the end of life: The path of prognostic awareness.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Patient considerations of social media account management after death.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Psychosocial intervention in palliative care: What do psychologists need to know.Journal of health psychology · 2024Review
- Future scenarios of palliative care in health system of Iran: a multi-method study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Patients' and Relatives' Preferences for Outpatient and Day Care Services Within End-of-Life Care in Germany - A Discrete Choice Experiment.Patient preference and adherence · 2024Article
- What makes the palliative care initial encounter meaningful? A descriptive study with patients with cancer, family carers and palliative care professionals.Palliative medicine · 2023Article
- Endobronchial valve treatment in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A qualitative study of patients' expectations.SAGE open medicine · 2023Article
- Where would Canadians prefer to die? Variation by situational severity, support for family obligations, and age in a national study.BMC palliative care · 2022Article
- Limitation of life-sustaining treatment and patient involvement in decision-making: a retrospective study of a Danish COVID-19 patient cohort.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2021Observational
- Before the 2020 Pandemic: an observational study exploring public knowledge, attitudes, plans, and preferences towards death and end of life care in Wales.BMC palliative care · 2021Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEnd-of-life (EOL) conversations are highly important for patients living with life-threatening diseases and for their relatives. Talking about the EOL is associated with reduced costs and better quality of care in the final weeks of life. However, there is therefore a need for further clarification of the actual wishes of patients and their relatives concerning EOL conversations in an acute hospital setting.
aimThe purpose of this study was to explore the wishes of patients and their relatives with regard to talking about the EOL in an acute hospital setting when living with a life-threatening disease.
methodsThis study is a qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews. A total of 17 respondents (11 patients and six spouses) participated. The patients were identified by the medical staff in a medical and surgical ward using SPICT™. The interview questions were focused on the respondents' thoughts on and wishes about their future lives, as well as on their wishes regarding talking about the EOL in a hospital setting.
resultsThis study revealed that the wish to talk about the EOL differed widely between respondents. Impairment to the patients' everyday lives received the main focus, whereas talking about EOL was secondary. Conversations on EOL were an individual matter and ranged from not wanting to think about the EOL, to being ready to plan the funeral and expecting the healthcare professionals to be very open about the EOL. The conversations thus varied between superficial communication and crossing boundaries.
conclusionThe wish to talk about the EOL in an acute hospital setting is an individual matter and great diversity exists. This individualistic stance requires the development of conversational tools that can assist both the patients and the relatives who wish to have an EOL conversation and those who do not. At the same time, staff should be trained in initiating and facilitating EOL discussions.
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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.