End of life discussions

"Limits of Care / DNR
discussions".
In Acute Care Setting
LAKMAL NANDADEWA

What is an advanced health directive?
 A document that contains your/patients decisions about future treatments including medical,surgical,dental treatment
and other health care
Who can make an advanced health directive ??
 If you/patient is at least 18yrs of age and have full legal capacity
If the patient does not have the capacity who else can do it ??
 Patient may lack full capacity I if your decision making is impaired by illness, disease or injury or the effects of
medications ,drugs or alcohol
 An Enduring Guardian ,a Guardian, Health care professional

Dying in acute care
• Dying in Australia is more institutionalised than in the rest of the world
• 50 % of Australians dying in hospital, despite 68 % indicating a preference to die at
home
• Home deaths, which include people who die in residential care facilities, are half as
prevalent in Australia as they are in New Zealand, the United States of America,
Ireland and France.
• Hospitalisations in Australia have increased significantly for older age groups, with
the hospitalisation rate for those aged over 85 increasing by 35 % for women and 48
% for men in the decade to 2011-2012

• A high number of hospital admissions and emergency department
presentations occur in the last 12 months of life.
• Frequently these acute care presentations and admissions are inappropriate
and they can be distressing for patients. They also place increased stress on
an already pressured health system

The cost of dying in acute care
• Research shows that 59 % of health care expenditure is incurred during a
person’s last three years before death, regardless of their age at death
• This cost increases substantially during a person’s last year of life and, in
particular, increases substantially during their last three months of life
• Each year more than $2 billion is spent on older people who die in hospital,
with an estimated 9 % of all inpatient costs being allocated to patients aged
65 years and over in their last year of life.

• Approximately 1/3 of all people who die in hospital will have only one
admission – the one in which they die – at an estimated cost of $19,000 for
those aged 50 and over.
• With more people dying each year due to Australia’s ageing population, the
real costs of dying will increase accordingly. Policies to address this
anticipated increase in costs are essential in order to manage the health
budget

Recognising and responding to clinical
deterioration
• The acute care setting is designed to provide short-term, episodic care for mainly
acute illnesses. Patients are often intensively managed and the default position
is to continue to treat symptoms
• Recognition of dying is frequently inadequate, resulting in missed
opportunities to consider appropriate referral to specialist palliative care and to
initiate end-of-life care plans.
• Clinicians have a responsibility to initiate and facilitate honest discussions
with patients earlier in their illness trajectory and to assist them to make
decisions about how they want to live for the rest of their lives.

Supporting clinicians in their practice
• There is also a need to ensure that clinicians across all health settings are
adequately trained and supported to provide this level of care.
• The quality of care at end-of-life is often dependent on a clinician’s
experience and the resources available, leading to a wide variation in practices
within and across health services.

“It’s hard for experts (health professionals) to listen to non-experts (carers),
when they are the experts of their loved one”
“...the idea that cure is improbable or impossible, or that continued life
support is inappropriate or unkind, is unacceptable to many families.
The wider problem here is that acknowledgement of the inevitability of death,
and preparation for it, have largely lost their place in our culture. For many, an
almost child-like faith in medicine and science has taken its place”

Changing the culture of dying and planning
for death
• Research indicates that real benefits for individuals and communities can
result from strengthening society’s awareness and understanding of death,
dying, loss and palliative and end-of-life care

fear, denial and unrealistic expectations
• Talking about death and dying is emotive and difficult for many people
• Western societies, including Australia, have been characterised as ‘death
denying’ and curative medical treatments are commonly prioritised ahead of
palliative care and quality of life
• Clinicians’ individual values, beliefs and experiences can also affect their
behaviours and influence the way that they provide care to dying patients. eg:
one study found that the religious beliefs of doctors influenced the way they reported managing ethically
controversial decisions such as providing continuous deep sedation until the point of death

• Fear and denial about facing issues around death and dying is common amongst
clinicians as well as patients and families
• fear as being a major barrier to talking about dying and planning for the end of life.
• A number of papers describe how television programs hugely inflate the
success rates of interventions such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation
• Television may contribute to patients and families developing unrealistic
expectations of the outcomes of such treatments

trajectories of decline
• Dying is no longer the relatively rapid process that it once was
• Most people will die with ‘unpredictable timing from predictably fatal
chronic disease
• Glaser and Strauss first described the concept of a ‘trajectory of dying’ in
the 1960s. This term describes how an eventually fatal condition will change
a person’s health and functional status over the period of time leading up to
their death

The four trajectories of decline that are commonly described relate to groups
of conditions that are eventually fatal
1. Sudden death
2. Terminal illness
3. Organ failure
4. Frailty

Patient-1
Six months prior to death- Mr A a 68-year-old man diagnosed with cancer
Mr A is a 68-year-old-man who lives at home with his wife, daughter and son-in-law. He is
referred by his GP to hospital for admission as he has been experiencing increasing nausea,
vomiting and lethargy. He has a history of lung cancer (diagnosed one year ago) for which he
has been having chemotherapy. During his admission the doctors discover his cancer has
spread throughout his lungs and also to his liver. Mrs A is upset about this as he believed his
cancer was being treated by the chemotherapy. Mr A’s treating team consider a different type of
chemotherapy to help ease his symptoms. While in hospital Mr A regularly tells nursing staff he
wants to go home and that he dislikes spending time in hospitals away from his wife. Mr A
starts the new chemotherapy in hospital and with his symptoms treated he is sent home. His
GP is sent a discharge letter and he has a planned outpatient appointment in four weeks.

Areas for discussion
Opportunities to improve quality of care prior to this admission
Cancer diagnosis- There may have been an opportunity to introduce the concept of Advance Care Planning (ACP) to Mr and Mrs A
once this diagnosis was made .Mr A may have used this time to discuss his goals of care with his family, treating team and/or his GP
Opportunities to improve quality of care prior to this admission
Opportunities and key stages this admission
Disease progression (triggers/surprise question)-
The treating medical staff could discuss prognosis and goals of care with Mr A and his family as his condition has worsened and he is
likely to need increasing care in the next 6 months.
Dislikes hospital (patient-centred care)
There is an opportunity for the team and the family to consider the different options for care at home for Mr A in the future as his
condition worsens. This may also include discussions about where he may wish to be cared for when he dies.
Options for care (specialist palliative care)
This may be an opportunity to introduce palliative care services as an option in future care if needed or wanted at the time.

Patient 2:
Last days of life Mrs B – a 97-year-old lady from a residential care home
Mrs B is a 97-year-old lady who lives in a residential care home. Mrs B is admitted to hospital after a fall. She
appears confused on admission. The staff from Mrs B’s home say that she has been increasingly unable to care
for herself or move about the home. She has fallen several times in the last few months and has lost weight. Her
daughter is with her on admission and she informs one of the junior doctors that her mother has an Advance
Health Directive (AHD) she completed at the care home. Mrs B has no other specific medical problems. She is
found to have aspiration pneumonia. Treatment includes antibiotics and fluids with a full assessment by social
workers, physiotherapists, speech pathologists and other health care professionals. The goal is to find a
residential care home for Mrs B to move to which suits her needs. Three days after admission there is an
emergency medical team call for Mrs B when staff find her very distressed and she appears to have problems
with her breathing. She receives intravenous medication to help her breathing and is referred for further
investigations. She remains agitated overnight and during a night shift round the nurse finds her dead.

Opportunities and key stages prior to this admission
Residential care home-
The residential care home could have notified the hospital (and GP or treating doctors) that Mrs B had an AHD. A copy of the AHD
could have gone with Mrs B to hospital. Mrs B’s daughter could have kept a certified copy of it too. This may have assisted in
determining Mrs B’s goals of care while she was in a confused state.

Confused:
Staffs duty-Should have discussed about advance care plans, designated decision maker and/or has expressed any wishes for her future
care.
AHD: the junior doctor could have contacted the care home to ask for a copy of the document. This could then be reviewed with the
daughter and Mrs B (Ensuring that information about advance care plans and treatment-limiting orders is in the patient clinical record,
where appropriate).
Full assessment
the multidisciplinary team could have discussed Mrs B’s end of life care needs and wishes with her as well as any resuscitation plan at
any stage during the assessments in consultation with her family.

After the emergency medical team call
the staff could discuss prognosis and end of life care with Mrs A and her family as her condition worsened.
Education and training for end-of-life care
support staff to assess, monitor and evaluate end-of-life care including symptom relief, psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients and
their families

Patient 3:
Last months of life Mrs C – a 71-year-old lady with comorbidities
Mrs C is a 71 year old lady who lives at home with her son. She is admitted to hospital via the
Emergency Department after a fall. She is found to have pneumonia. She has a history of
alcohol dependence, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and AF. She has been in hospital five
times in the past 12 months with increasing problems and difficulty coping with her diabetes at
home. After several days in hospital she finds it more difficult to breathe and becomes agitated
and aggressive. Her pneumonia worsens and she has bacteraemia. She is sent to the Intensive
Care Unit (ICU) where her care continues for five days. Her condition improves somewhat and
she is transferred back to a ward. After 14 days in hospital she is discharged home with some
equipment to support her. There is a plan for community support services to assess her needs
and assist her to manage at home.

Opportunities and key stages prior to this admission
Multiple admissions (triggers)
There may have been an opportunity (triggered by multiple unplanned admissions) to start Advance Care Planning
(ACP) discussions during at least one of these admissions. Mrs C may have used this time to discuss her wishes for her
future care with her son, her treating doctors and her general practitioner.
Admission
Admitting nurses and doctors could ask Mrs C if she has any form of ACP documented

Worsening condition
the treating medical staff could discuss prognosis and goals of care with Mrs C and her family as her condition
worsened. The practicality of an ICU admission could be discussed
Post ICU
Treating medical staff could discuss the future likelihood of ICU admissions and determine what Mrs C and her family
would like to do if ICU admission became likely again.
Plan for recurrent admission
Mrs C may require more community-based support and health services to manage her care at home and avoid
unplanned hospital admissions

policies, strategies and programs
• National Palliative Care Strategy
• National Palliative Care Program
• Guidelines for end-of-life care and decision-making
• In Western Australia, the Palliative Care Network Advisory Committee
oversees a range of activities aimed at developing an integrated model of
palliative care across the state. These include the development of Rural
Palliative Care Networks, Metropolitan Palliative Care Teams and the
Paediatric Palliative Care Program

Community awareness
1. National DonateLife Communications Framework
2. Healthy Dying Initiative -www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/palliativecare/advance_
care_planning_for_healthy_dying
3. Planning Ahead Tools - www.planningaheadtools.com.au

References:
• 1. Western Australia. Department of Health. WA Cancer & Palliative Care Network. Consumer Carer Focus Group Report: Communication at end-of-life in hospital.
Perth: Department of Health; 2015.
• 2. Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People. One chance to get it right: Improving people’s experience of care in the last few days and hours of life. United
Kingdom; 2014.
• 3. Smith, R. A good death. British Medical Journal 2000;320.
• 4. Swerissen H, Duckett S. Dying well: Grattan Institute Report No. 2014-10 [cited 2015 Nov 16]. Available from: http://grattan.edu.au/wp-
content/uploads/2014/09/815-dying-well.pdf
• 5. Clinical Excellence Commission. Care for the dying in NSW: a review of the data from the 2012 Quality Systems Assessment. Sydney South; 2013.
• 6. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Demographic Statistics. Feature article: population by age and sex, Australia, States and Territories. Canberra: Australian
Bureau of Statistics; 2014.
• 7. The University of Sydney. Clinical Practice Guidelines for Dementia in Australia. Public Consultation Draft 2015. Sydney: Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre;
2015.
• 8. Rosenwax LK, McNamara BA, Murray K, McCabe RJ, Aoun SM, Currow DC. Hospital and emergency department use in the last year of life: a baseline for future
modifications to end-of-life care. Med J Aust 2011;194(11):570-3

End of life discussions

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (6)

Similar to End of life discussions (20)

More from SCGH ED CME (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

End of life discussions