From curative to palliative care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
From curative to palliative care: How are end of life conversations experienced by doctors and patients?
IRAS ID
301926
Contact name
Pooja Bhambra
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
This study will investigate how physicians and patients experience conversations at the end of life (EOL), when a patient has incurable cancer. Conversations around prognosis, palliative care and end of life can be challenging for both the physician and the patient but are important for improving experiences for the patient and their relatives. Few qualitative studies have been carried out to explore physicians’ and patients’ perceptions of the EOL decision-making process. Most studies focus on physicians’ attitudes and strategies toward truth telling and disclosure of prognosis. Much less is known about how physicians perceive their roles in preparing the patient and how involved the patient feels in the decision-making process toward the end of an illness trajectory. A 2018 report by the Royal College of Physicians highlighted the need for such conversations to start early. It also highlights that there is professional reluctance to engage in conversations with patients about, treatment, resuscitation status and death.
Participants for this study will include physicians and patients. Patients will have a diagnosis of advanced cancer (cancer that is considered to be incurable). Physician’s will include palliative care consultants and oncologists. In the first phase of the research, I will observe patients and physicians in clinical consultations with the intention to gather a deeper understanding of their experiences of being in conversation and local practices which inform how consultations are facilitated. Completing ethnographic fieldwork in this way will provide me with information which will inform the questions for the subsequent interviews which will take place, in the second phase of the research. In the second phase of the research, I will conduct semi structured interviews with 4-6 physicians and 4-6 patients.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/LO/0391
Date of REC Opinion
27 May 2022
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion