Need for Improvement in Death Pronouncements in Palliative Care Units

• Published in: Palliative medicine reports 2023-12, Vol.4 (1), p.35-357
• Main Authors: Hamano, Jun, Masukawa, Kento, Tsuneto, Satoru, Shima, Yasuo, Morita, Tatsuya, Kizawa, Yoshiyuki, Miyashita, Mitsunori
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: bereaved family; death pronouncement; Original; Original Article; palliative care units
• ISSN: 2689-2820; 2689-2820
• DOI: 10.1089/pmr.2023.0053

Background: Death pronouncement is an important moment that can impact a family's bereavement process; however, necessary improvements in physicians' behavior during death pronouncement remain unclear. Objectives: To explore whether the lack of certain behaviors by the physician was associated with a perceived need for improving death pronouncement for advanced cancer patients in palliative care units (PCUs). Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of a nationwide multicenter questionnaire survey conducted in 2018 that targeted bereaved family members of cancer patients who died in PCUs. We performed univariate analysis to investigate the need to improve behavior toward death pronouncement. We performed bivariate analysis to investigate the relationship among the need for improvement in behavior toward death pronouncement, physician attribution (primary responsible physician, a member of the same team, and another physician), and nine specific behaviors. Results: Four hundred twenty-two questionnaires (64.2%) were returned. We analyzed 356 responses and found that 32.5% perceived the need to improve death pronouncement. Lack of certain behaviors at death pronouncement, especially not explicitly explaining the cause of death to family members (odds ratio: 11.89, p