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and K. Iwasaki. “Comparing Hospice and Nonhospice Patient Survival Among Patients Who Die Within a Three-Year Window.” J Pain Symptom Manage 33 (3) (March 2007): 238-246.
Convincing evidence of the capacity of palliative care to simultaneously improve quality and extend length of life: Temel, J. S., J. A. Greer, A. Muzikansky, et al. “Early Palliative Care for Patients with Metastatic Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.” N Engl J Med 363 (8) (August 19, 2010): 733-742. El-Jawahri, A., J. A. Greer, and J. S. Temel. “Does Palliative Care Improve Outcomes for Patients with Incurable Illness? A Review of the Evidence.” J Supp Oncol 9 (3) (2011): 87-94.
team-based palliative care: According to a survey by the Center to Advance Palliative Care, 100 percent of AAMC member teaching hospitals reported having a palliative care program; in 2008 over 81 percent of hospitals with more than 300 beds had a palliative care program. Kirch, D. G. “A Word from the President — Embracing the Value of Palliative Medicine.” AAMC Reporter. June 2011. Available at: https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/ reporter/june2011/25 0904/word. html (accessed August 2011).
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diminish post-traumatic stress among family members after a patient has been in the ICU: Azoulay, E., F. Pochard, N. Kentish-Barnes, et al. “Risk of Post- Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Family Members of Intensive Care Unit Patients.” Am J Respir Crit Care Med 171 (9) (May
I, 2005): 987-994. Lautrette, A., M. Dar- mon, B. Megarbane, et al. “A Communication Strategy and Brochure for Relatives of Patients Dying in the ICU.” N Engl J Med 356 (5) (February 1, 2007): 469- 478. Lilly, C. M., L. A. Sonna, K. J. Haley, and A. F. Massaro. “Intensive Communication: Four-Year Follow-up from a Clinical Practice Study.” Crit Care Med 31 (5 Suppl.) (May 2003): S394-S399. Curtis,
J. R., and D. B. White. “Practical Guidance for Evidence-Based ICU Family Conferences.” Chest 134 (4) (October 2008): 835-843. This article succinctly presents a straightforward approach to family meetings that is supported by evidence.
Dr. Bakitas’s research team at Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center reviewed charts of one hundred patients who died in our hospital during 2008: Bakitas, M., P. Parikh, F. C. Brokaw, et al. “Has There Been Any Progress in Improving the Qual-
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ity of Hospitalized Death? Replication of a U.S. Chart Audit Study.” BMJ (in press August 2011).
Studies have shown that a physician’s response to the surprise question is a significant prognostic indicator: Moss, A. H., J. Ganjoo, S. Sharma, et al. “Utility of the ‘Surprise’ Question to Identify Dialysis Patients with High Mortality.” Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 3 (5) (September 2008): 1379-1384. Moss, A. H., J. R. Lun- ney, S. Culp, et al. “Prognostic Significance of the ‘Surprise’ Question in Cancer Patients.” J Palliat Med 13 (7) (July 2010): 837-840.
5. Morbidity and Mortality