Sage Palliative Medicine & Chronic Care

This episode features Claudia Virdun (Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Ultimo, NSW, Australia) who describes a study which aimed to gain a richer and deeper understanding of elements of end-of-life care that consumers consider most important within the hospital setting. The study was a meta-synthesis (review of all the qualitative research on a given subject) of consumer narratives reporting what they considered important elements of end of life care. Sixteen studies were included. Synthesis yielded 7 patient and 10 family themes including 6 common themes: (1) expert care, (2) effective communication and shared decision-making, (3) respectful and compassionate care, (4) adequate environment for care, (5) family involvement and (6) financial affairs. Maintenance of sense of self was the additional patient theme, while the four additional family themes were as follows: (1) maintenance of patient safety, (2) preparation for death, (3) care extending to the family after patient death and