Estimating needs in life threatening illness: a feasibility study to assess the views of patients and doctors

• Published in: Palliative medicine Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 205 - 210
• Main Authors: Shah, Shamsul, Blanchard, Martin, Tookman, Adrian, Jones, Louise, Blizard, Robert, King, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.04.2006; Turpin; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Cancer; Chronic illnesses; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Clinical death. Palliative care. Organ gift and preservation; Cohort analysis; Community support; Critical Illness - therapy; Death & dying; Doctors; End of life decisions; Ethics; Family physicians; Fear & phobias; Feasibility; Feasibility Studies; Female; Health sciences; Health Status; Heart Failure; Hospice care; Hospitals; Humans; Kidney diseases; Kidney Failure, Chronic; Life Expectancy; Life threatening sickness; London; Male; Malignant; Medical personnel; Medical prognosis; Medical referrals; Medical schools; Medical sciences; Medicine; Mental health; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Needs Assessment; Neoplasms; Palliative care; Palliative Care - standards; Patient satisfaction; Patients; Perceptions; Physicians; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Psychological distress; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Self evaluation; Seriousness; Teaching; Terminally Ill; University colleges; Vignettes; London; United Kingdom > UK; England; palliative care; prognosis; non-cancer; Need; Prognosis; Physician patient relation; Estimation; Palliative care; Feasibility; Malignant tumor; Public health
• ISSN: 0269-2163; 1477-030X
• DOI: 10.1191/0269216306pm1130oa

Background: Provision of palliative care for patients with non-cancer conditions is hindered by the difficulty of predicting when people will die and fear of causing distress by raising end-of-life issues. Objectives: To compare patients’ and professionals’ (1) estimations of prognosis; (2) perceptions of the seriousness of the illness and needs for supportive care; and (3) acceptability of this sensitive research, in end-stage cancer and non-cancer diseases. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: A teaching hospital and a Marie Curie hospice in London. Subjects: Twenty patients with advanced non-malignant disease (heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and renal failure) and 20 patients with advanced cancer, and their physicians in charge. Method: A feasibility study using vignettes to aid patients and doctors estimate of prognoses. Main outcome measures were (1) patients’ and physicians’ estimates of health status, care needs and prognosis; and (2) patient survival. Results: Patients were willing and able to estimate their own life expectancy and cancer patients correctly estimated that they had a poorer prognosis than non-cancer patients. Non-cancer patients perceived that they had similar needs for supportive care as cancer patients. Physicians made little distinction in palliative care needs between patients with and without cancer, but tended to make more pessimistic estimates of prognosis in non-cancer patients. Conclusions: Patients are able to judge their health status and life expectancy and do not object to questions about end-of-life care. Cancer and non-cancer patients have similar needs for supportive care. We need further evidence on the value of self-rated prognosis and how to provide palliative and supportive care for all patients who are near death.