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goals of care
Patient's preferences or priorities for treatment of illness.
Component of one of the 5 Ms of geriatrics
Clinical significance:
- a 1st step in counseling a patient about treatment options & a care plan
- goals of care discussions with serious illness promote patient-centered outcomes at the end of life [1]
Complications:
- goals of care are too frequently not transferred across care settings
Management:
- in the absence of established goals of care (advance directives) or an available surrogate decision maker, full resuscitation efforts are indicated [2]
Clinical trials:
- a randomized clinical trial (electronic health record-based) to promote goals-of-care discussions had litte impact on occurrence of discussions [1]
Related
advance directives
References
- Curtis JR et al.
Intervention to promote communication about goals of care for hospitalized patients
with serious illness: A randomized clinical trial.
JAMA 2023 May 21; [e-pub].
PMID: 37210665
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2805346
- White DB, Andersen SK.
Conversations on goals of care with hospitalized, seriously ill patients.
JAMA 2023 May 21; [e-pub].
PMID: 37210664
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2805347
- NEJM Knowledge+