• Chih-Yuan Shih, Wen-Yu Hu, Shao-Yi Cheng, Chien-An Yao, Ching-Yu Chen, Yen-Chun Lin, and Tai-Yuan Chiu.
• 1 Department of Family Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital Jin-Shan Branch , New Taipei City, Taiwan .
• J Palliat Med. 2015 Jul 1; 18 (7): 625-30.

BackgroundEnabling people to die in their preferred place is important for providing high-quality end-of-life care.ObjectiveThe study objective was to explore patients' preferences regarding the place of end-of-life care and death and to compare these preferences with the perceptions of their family physicians.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used stratified random sampling, surveying 400 registered patients and 200 of their family physicians nationwide, with a five-part, structured, self-report questionnaire.ResultsOf the selected population, 310 patients (response rate 77.5%) and 169 physicians (response rate 84.5%) responded. Regarding the preferred place for end-of-life care, most of the patients would choose to receive care at home (60.6%) if home care services were available. Additionally, home was the most frequently preferred (66.5%) place of death. The family physicians' survey showed that a higher proportion of physicians selected home as the preferred place for end-of-life care and death (71.6% and 87.2%, respectively). The results of logistic regression analysis showed that patients younger than 50 years of age who believed in Chinese folk religion and who resided in a rural area were more likely to prefer to die at home.ConclusionsThe most commonly preferred place for end-of-life care and death is the patient's home. Establishing a community-based palliative care system should be encouraged to allow more individuals to die in their preferred locations. There were discrepancies in the preferred place of end-of-life care and death between the patients' preferences and their family physicians' perceptions. More effective physician-patient communication regarding end-of-life care is needed.

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