The Value of Disease Severity in Predicting Patient Readiness to Address End-of-Life Issues

Abstract

Patients appear no more or less interested in end-of-life discussions at later stages of chronic lung disease. Physicians cannot use disease severity measures or recent clinical events to accurately predict when patients desire end-of-life discussions. Focusing on physician skill in using specific communication strategies for patients at all stages of illness may be the most promising approach to increasing end-of-life discussions.