A new palliative care tool can help clinicians and caregivers engage in end-of-life conversations and make better-informed care decisions, say medical researchers from the University of Alberta.
The Life Conversation Tool is a series of questions designed to help people with chronic, life-limiting illnesses express their wishes while they are still able to do so. It was fine-tuned with feedback from a focus group of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an irreversible lung disease, and their caregivers.
The tool can be used by clinicians to provide contextual medical advice and make decisions about care, such as whether or not to provide a medication, reported pulmonary specialist Meena Kalluri, M.D.
“We routinely ask patients what gives them joy,” Kalluri said. “With incurable diseases where the focus is comfort in advanced stages, we can stop the drugs if they’re compromising a patient’s quality of life, like enjoyment of food.”
The tool was well-received by patients in the focus group, Kalluri noted.
“This tool was like a revelation for them,” she said. “They weren’t fearful of it, but grateful for it. They said, ‘finally, something I can use to talk about these issues.’”
The Life Conversation Tool is available on the university’s website.
