Family Meetings on Behalf of Patients with Serious Illness

Widera, Eric; Anderson, Wendy G.; Santhosh, Lekshmi; McKee, Kanako Y.; Smith, Alexander K.; Frank, James A.

doi:10.1056/nejmvcm1913056

Cited by 20 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The key elements of effective family meetings have been proposed based on extensive clinical experience and limited empirical data [ 26 ••]. These elements include specific processes, timing considerations, and staff involvement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The information presented may be followed by a question that allows the patient or family to reflect on their understanding or their reaction to the information. The clinician may respond to emotion by validating, naming, and aligning with the patient/family using statements such as “I wish we had a therapy to make you better” [ 26 ••].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A planned family meeting may be scheduled routinely, at defined points after cancer treatment begins, or scheduled in response to specific triggers. Routine family meetings may be part of early routine palliative care in patients with cancer, the implementation of which may be facilitated by patient and family education [ 26 ••]. Early family meetings may help patients and families engage with advance care planning, make careful goal-centered treatment decisions, and take care of important medico-legal decisions, such as creating a will.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples of triggers include recurrence or a life-threatening complication, or when a change in the patient’s medical status suggests that a decline is likely. Other triggers may be the need for a challenging treatment decision or the development of disagreement among family members and clinicians regarding the patient’s prognosis, the goals of care, or treatments [ 26 ••]. Another approach to a triggered family meeting is based on the assessed risk of decline or in anticipation of family challenges related to a transition in care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Family Meetings in Palliative Care: Benefits and Barriers

Glajchen

Goehring²,

Johns³

et al. 2022

Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Family Meetings in Palliative Care: Benefits and Barriers

Glajchen

Goehring²,

Johns³

et al. 2022

Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Allowing family members more time to speak during the meeting may improve the level of satisfaction of the family in terms of communication and conflicts with physicians [ 12 ]. Some experts suggest that, in a family meeting, family members should be offered at least the same amount of time that physicians have to speak as an important part of family-centered care [ 8 , 13 ]. Nonetheless, nowadays, a rushing and pressing healthcare environment may drive families away from such opportunities [ 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of a pre-emptive question and answer platform to improve the level of satisfaction during family meetings in general medical wards

Huang

Sheng

2022

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background A successful family meeting is key to family-centered care and may foster communication and improve the level of satisfaction of the family in terms of communication. In this study, we evaluated whether a proactive communication channel could improve the level of satisfaction of family members following a family meeting in a general medical ward setting. Methods We conducted a pre- and post-study to compare the level of satisfaction of a family with a family meeting before (N = 39) and after (N = 29) intervention in two general medical wards of a tertiary-care referral center. The intervention included a pre-emptive question and answer platform and a written response to family-raised queries in addition to a regular setting. Following each family meeting, family members were requested to fill a 10-item survey assessing their levels of satisfaction. Results The characteristics of the family members in terms of demographics, education levels, and previous experiences with family meetings in the pre- and post-intervention groups were similar. The scores in all the items that indicated the level of satisfaction significantly improved after intervention. The overall score for satisfaction increased from 85 (interquartile range, 80–95) to 98 (interquartile range, 93–100; P < 0.001). Conclusions Compared with conventional practice, the inclusion of a proactive communication platform along with a written response to raised queries as a part of family meetings improved the satisfaction levels of the family in terms of the content and process of the meeting in the general ward setting. Further studies are needed to delineate the optimal timing and use of such a communication modality.

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Teaching Geriatrics in the Hospital: Bedside Geriatrics Teaching

Lorgunpai,

Soriano

2024

Medical Education in Geriatrics

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Family Meetings on Behalf of Patients with Serious Illness

Cited by 20 publications

References 8 publications

Family Meetings in Palliative Care: Benefits and Barriers

Family Meetings in Palliative Care: Benefits and Barriers

Application of a pre-emptive question and answer platform to improve the level of satisfaction during family meetings in general medical wards

Teaching Geriatrics in the Hospital: Bedside Geriatrics Teaching

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