ReviewBMC palliative care2021
Communicating with patients and families about illness progression and end of life: a review of studies using direct observation of clinical practice.
Review in BMC palliative care, 2021. 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, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Carers' Understanding of Recovery-Oriented Practice in Mental Health Settings: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis.International journal of mental health nursing · 2025Pooled it
- Challenges in Providing End-of-Life Nursing Care: A Qualitative Content Analysis.Nursing open · 2026Article
- Differences in perceptions of quality of dying scores during the last days of life on Belgian acute geriatric wards: a prospective observational study in relatives, nurses, and doctors.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Palliative care communication between patients with intellectual disabilities and hospice staff: a Conversation Analysis pilot study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Palliative Care and Advanced Cardiovascular Disease in Adults: Not Just End-of-Life Care: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.Circulation · 2025Review
- Staff's Knowledge and Self-Confidence in Difficult Communication: Evaluation of a Short Experiential-Based Training Program.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Article
- Adapting to the emotional complexity of palliative care communication: Palliative care clinicians' experiences.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Decomposition and comparative analysis of urban-rural disparity in attitude towards advance care planning among Chinese adults: A nationwide study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A Scoping Review of Palliative Care Education for Preregistration Student Nurses in the Asia Pacific Region.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Review
- How to talk about dying? The development of an evidence-based model for communication with patients in their last days of life and their family caregivers.PEC innovation · 2024Article
- Integrating Patient-Reported Outcomes Into Prognostication in Gastroesophageal Cancer: Results of a Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Analysis.The oncologist · 2024Article
- Core components of end-of-life care in nursing education programs: a scoping review.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Open communication between patients and relatives about illness & death in advanced cancer-results of the eQuiPe Study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Barriers and facilitators for cardiopulmonary resuscitation discussions with people with heart failure.PloS one · 2024Article
- Hospice Family Caregivers' Uncertainty, Burden, and Unmet Needs in Prospective Audio Diaries.Journal of hospice and palliative nursing : JHPN : the official journal of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association · 2023Article
- High-value care for critically ill oncohematological patients: what do we know thus far?Critical care science · 2023Review
- Delivering Prognostic News to Older People with Chronic Disease: What Format Preference and Level of Involvement in Decision Making? A Hospital Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The Impact of Health and Social Care Professionals' Education on the Quality of Serious Illness Conversations in Nursing Homes: Study Protocol of a Quality Improvement Project.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Addressing Future Changes in Communication Using Hypothetical Scenarios With People With Primary Progressive Aphasia and Care Partners: A Conversation Analytic Study.International journal of language & communication disordersArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is growing recognition that a diverse range of healthcare professionals need competence in palliative approaches to care. Effective communication is a core component of such practice. This article informs evidence-based communication about illness progression and end of life through a rapid review of studies that directly observe how experienced clinicians manage such discussions.
methodsThe current rapid review updates findings of a 2014 systematic review, focussing more specifically on evidence related to illness progression and end-of-life conversations. Literature searches were conducted in nine bibliographic databases. Studies using conversation analysis or discourse analysis to examine recordings of actual conversations about illness progression or end of life were eligible for inclusion in the review. An aggregative approach was used to synthesise the findings of included studies.
resultsFollowing screening, 26 sources were deemed to meet eligibility criteria. Synthesis of study findings identified the structure and functioning of ten communication practices used in discussions about illness progression and end-of-life.
conclusionThe ten practices identified underpin five evidence-based recommendations for communicating with patients or family members about illness progression and end of life.
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.