Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · May 2017
Review Meta AnalysisExperiences and perspectives of older people regarding advance care planning: A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.
Studies have indicated that family members or health professionals may not know or predict their older relatives' or patients' health preferences. Although advance care planning is encouraged for older people to prepare end-of-life care, it is still challenging. ⋯ Older people's perspectives and experiences of advance care planning were varied and often conflicted; cultural differences amplified variances among older people. Truthful information, available resources, and family support are needed to enable older people to maintain dignity at the end of life. The views of life and death for older people from different cultures should be compared to assist health professionals to understand older people's attitudes toward advance care planning, and thus to develop appropriate strategies to promote advance care planning in different cultures.
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Palliative medicine · May 2017
Review Meta AnalysisCurrent status of accurate prognostic awareness in advanced/terminally ill cancer patients: Systematic review and meta-regression analysis.
No systematic meta-analysis is available on the prevalence of cancer patients' accurate prognostic awareness and differences in accurate prognostic awareness by publication year, region, assessment method, and service received. ⋯ Less than half of advanced/terminal cancer patients accurately understood their prognosis, with significant variations by region and assessment method. Healthcare professionals should thoroughly assess advanced/terminal cancer patients' preferences for prognostic information and engage them in prognostic discussion early in the cancer trajectory, thus facilitating their accurate prognostic awareness and the quality of end-of-life care decision-making.