Care management role in end-of-life discussions

How do we prepare our patients for decisions that will need to be made for end-of-life care? End-of-life care discussions should occur early on in the patient's disease process and often requires a great deal of coordination between multiple caregivers. There are also ethical, cultural social and spiritual considerations during this very important time in the disease process. Research suggests that we are not doing an adequate job of addressing end-of-life care with our patients and that a great deal of money and resources are being spent in the last days of life when there may be no clinical indication to do so. Registered nurse case managers have a unique knowledge base to serve in the role of coordinating care and leading the multidisciplinary care team in an effort to use resources responsibly while providing patients and families with options for end-of-life care.