TY - JOUR
T1 - Information meetings on end-of-life care for older people by the general practitioner to stimulate advance care planning: a pre-post evaluation study
AU - van der Plas, Annicka G. M.
AU - Pasman, H. Roeline W.
AU - Kox, Roosmarijne M. K.
AU - Ponstein, Marianne
AU - Dame, Bea
AU - Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Background: To increase knowledge about options people have concerning end-of-life-care issues, General Practitioners (GPs) can organise meetings to inform their older patients. We evaluated these meetings, using the following research questions: How did the attendees experience the information meeting? Was there a rise in Advance Care Planning (ACP) behaviour after the information meeting? Was there a change in trust people have that physicians will provide good care at the end of life and that they will follow their end-of-life wishes after the information meetings? Methods: Four GPs invited all patients of 75 years and older registered in their GP practices to the meeting via a written letter. Four meetings of 2 h took place in 2016. Meetings started with a presentation on end-of-life topics and ACP by the GP followed by time for questions. A pre-post evaluation study was done using written questionnaires distributed and filled in at the start of the meeting (T0) at the end of the meeting (T1) and 6 months after the meeting (T2). Results: In total 225 older people attended a meeting of which 154 (68%) filled in the questionnaire at T0 and 145 (64%) filled in the questionnaire at T1. After six months, 90 of the 121 people who approved of being sent another questionnaire at T2, returned it (40%). The average age of the respondents was 80 years (T0). The meetings were evaluated positively by the attendees (T1). ACP issues (appointing a proxy, resuscitation, hospitalisation, euthanasia, treatment preferences under certain circumstances, preferred place of care and nursing home admittance) were discussed with a physician, a relative or both more often in the 6 months after having attended the meeting (T2), compared to before (T0). Compared to before the meeting (T0), trust in the GP providing good end-of-life care and following end-of-life wishes was higher immediately after the meeting (T1), but not after 6 months (T2). Conclusion: Information meetings on end-of-life care by GPs have a positive influence on the occurrence of ACP, both with the physician and others. Although, this method especially reaches the older people that are already interested in the subject, this seems a relatively easy way to stimulate ACP.
AB - Background: To increase knowledge about options people have concerning end-of-life-care issues, General Practitioners (GPs) can organise meetings to inform their older patients. We evaluated these meetings, using the following research questions: How did the attendees experience the information meeting? Was there a rise in Advance Care Planning (ACP) behaviour after the information meeting? Was there a change in trust people have that physicians will provide good care at the end of life and that they will follow their end-of-life wishes after the information meetings? Methods: Four GPs invited all patients of 75 years and older registered in their GP practices to the meeting via a written letter. Four meetings of 2 h took place in 2016. Meetings started with a presentation on end-of-life topics and ACP by the GP followed by time for questions. A pre-post evaluation study was done using written questionnaires distributed and filled in at the start of the meeting (T0) at the end of the meeting (T1) and 6 months after the meeting (T2). Results: In total 225 older people attended a meeting of which 154 (68%) filled in the questionnaire at T0 and 145 (64%) filled in the questionnaire at T1. After six months, 90 of the 121 people who approved of being sent another questionnaire at T2, returned it (40%). The average age of the respondents was 80 years (T0). The meetings were evaluated positively by the attendees (T1). ACP issues (appointing a proxy, resuscitation, hospitalisation, euthanasia, treatment preferences under certain circumstances, preferred place of care and nursing home admittance) were discussed with a physician, a relative or both more often in the 6 months after having attended the meeting (T2), compared to before (T0). Compared to before the meeting (T0), trust in the GP providing good end-of-life care and following end-of-life wishes was higher immediately after the meeting (T1), but not after 6 months (T2). Conclusion: Information meetings on end-of-life care by GPs have a positive influence on the occurrence of ACP, both with the physician and others. Although, this method especially reaches the older people that are already interested in the subject, this seems a relatively easy way to stimulate ACP.
KW - Advance care planning
KW - Advance directives
KW - Communication
KW - General practice
KW - Health services for the aged
KW - Physician–patient relations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107341379&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-021-01463-3
DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-021-01463-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 34092218
SN - 1471-2296
VL - 22
JO - BMC Family Practice
JF - BMC Family Practice
IS - 1
M1 - 109
ER -