Physician discussions with terminally ill patients: a cross-national comparison.
A major issue in the care of terminally ill patients is communication and information provision. This paper reports the extent to which physicians in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland discuss topics relevant to end of life care with terminally ill patients and their relatives (without first informing the patient), and possible associations between physician-specific characteristics and such discussions. Response rates to the postal survey ranged from 39% to 68% (n =10139). Physicians in most of the countries except Italy ;in principle, always' discuss issues related to terminal illness with their patients but not with patients' relatives without first informing the patient, unless the relatives ask. Cross-national differences remained strong after controlling for physician characteristics. The majority of physicians appeared to support the principle of patient-centred care to terminally ill patients, consistent with palliative care philosophy and with the law and/or professional guidelines in most of the countries studied.
Aged Services Learning & Research Collaboration, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia. colleen.cartwright@scu.edu.au
Colleen
C
Cartwright
Bregje D
BD
Onwuteaka-Philipsen
Gail
G
Williams
Karin
K
Faisst
Freddy
F
Mortier
Tore
T
Nilstun
Michael
M
Norup
Agnes
A
van der Heide
Guido
G
Miccinesi
D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D017028:Caregivers; D003142:Communication; D005060:Europe; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000523:psychology*