Offering ACP discussions may positively influence relatives' experiences of end-of-life care

A new paper by our ERANet-LAC CODE project group suggests that offering Advance Care Planning (ACP) and goals-of-care conversations may positively influence bereaved relatives' experiences of end-of-life-care.

In 'Hospital care for the dying patient with cancer: does an advance care planning invitation influence bereaved relatives' experiences? A two country survey', published in BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care on 30 November 2021, researchers from Norway and Argentina describe the use of mixed-effects ordinal regression models to analyse data from responses to two questions asked as part of the Care of the Dying Evaluation (CODE) post-bereavement survey:

• "When it became clear that she/he was seriously ill and had limited time left to live, did the healthcare team (nurse or doctor) invite you and him/her to a conversation about your wishes for his/her remaining life time?"

• Would you have wanted this type of conversation?"

The findings showed that relatives who had been invited to an ACP conversation (56%) had more positive perceptions about care and support, while 68% of those not invited to a conversation would have wanted one. This majority also had less favourable perceptions about the care provided.

You can read the full paper via our publications page.