title: End-of-life care in an acute care hospital: linking policy and practice.
abstract: The care of people who die in hospitals is often suboptimal. Involving patients in decisions about their care is seen as one way to improve care outcomes. Federal and state government policymakers in Australia are promoting shared decision making in acute care hospitals as a means to improve the quality of end-of-life care. If policy is to be effective, health care professionals who provide hospital care will need to respond to its patient-centered purpose. Health services will also be called upon to train health care professionals to work with dying people in a more participatory way and to assist them to develop the clinical processes that support shared decision making. Health professionals who manage clinical workplaces become central in reshaping this practice environment by promoting patient-centered care policy objectives and restructuring health service systems to routinely incorporate patient and family preferences about care at key points in the patient's care episode.
authors: Centre for Health Services Management, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. roslyn.sorensen@uts.edu.au
authors: Ros
authors: R
authors: Sorensen
authors: Centre for Health Communication, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: Rick
authors: R
authors: Iedema
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D006291:Health Policy; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000458:organization & administration; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007325:Institutional Practice / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D009517:New South Wales; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*