A Better Death: Patient, Family Perspectives Used to Improve End-of-Life Care; Hospitals Need Systematic Process to Heed Patients’ Concern

Joint Center for Bioethics, University of Toronto

The final months and weeks for terminally ill hospital patients could be made better if hospitals simply instituted a systematic process to seek the thoughts of dying patients and families on how to improve the medical care provided, say experts at a leading international medical ethics think tank.

In what may be the first-ever patient-centered study designed to improve end-of-life care, the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto (JCB) says concentrating on issues considered important by patients and their families produces significant improvement in how dying patients perceive the care they get. The research will be published by the UK-based journal BMC Palliative Care1 Monday, May 24.

News release in full, click here

Coverage highlights,

BBC click here

Stories by the BBC Online, Health Day News, News Medical Net, the Spanish Newswire EFE and the newsletter of the Association of American Medical Colleges marked the publication of a JCB study improving end-of-life care. The stories were picked up online by several online media, such as Forbes.com