Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialUsing intuition or a formal palliative care needs assessment screening process in general practice to predict death within 12 months: A randomised controlled trial.
Population ageing will lead to more deaths with an uncertain trajectory. Identifying patients at risk of dying could facilitate more effective care planning. ⋯ Screening tool was better at predicting actual death than intuition, but with a higher false positive rate. Both were similarly effective at screening the whole cohort for death. Screening for possible death is not the best option for initiating end-of-life planning: recognising increased burden of illness might be a better trigger.