Care of the dying: can we do better?

The same healthcare system that excels at defining best practices and coordinating care for cardiac surgery and other acute illness has paid little attention to defining and implementing care models for the terminally ill. This issue of THE QUALITY LETTER looks at the care of the dying as a quality improvement priority. Experts say that many patients' dying days are spent in pain, isolated from loved ones and subject to extraordinary lifesaving measures unwanted by the patients--often because their caregivers lack adequate training in meeting their needs. The objective, say the experts, is a compassionate and patient/family-centered model of care. Use the self-assessment tool provided to determine whether your system shows the danger signs that care of the dying is inadequate and review six ways that your community can start improving service to the dying.