End of life discussion in an academic family health team in kingston, ontario, Canada.
BACKGROUND
End-of-life (EOL) discussions remain difficult in non-terminal patients as death is often perceived as a taboo and uncertainty. However, the call for proper EOL discussions has recently received public attention and media coverage. Evidence also reveals that non-terminal patients are more satisfied with health-care encounters when EOL has been discussed.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to explore the prevalence of EOL discussions in non-terminal adult patients, the perceived barriers to such discussions and suggested methods for improvement. A study mixed-methods study was performed by a group of PGY1 family medicine residents in an academic health team in Kingston, Ontario.


RESULTS
EOL discussion was performed in a very small proportion of non-terminal patient encounters. Compared with attending physicians, residents were less likely to discuss EOL issues and reported more perceived barriers.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings reflect the need for an early and open approach in conducting EOL discussion for non-terminal healthy patients.
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L5E9, Canada.
Reta
R
French
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L5E9, Canada.
Wenli
W
Zhang
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L5E9, Canada.
Kelly
K
Parks
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L5E9, Canada.
Sarah
S
Ashton
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L5E9, Canada.
Matt
M
Dumas
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L5E9, Canada.
Atika
A
Haider
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L5E9, Canada ; Department of Centre of Studies in Primary Care, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L5E9, Canada.
Lawrence
L
Leung
End of life discussion; mixed-methods study; patient-centred care