Home Health & Hospice Week

New reports challenge physician attitudes, cultural preferences. Your job with your hospice patients may be harder, thanks to the practices of their physicians. University of Washington researchers set out to discover physician and patient attitudes about end of life care in a year-long study, but ended up focusing on physician handling of the matter instead. "Patients and family members sometimes feel abandoned by their physicians at the transition to end-oflife care," notes the study in the March 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine journal. "I think patients should expect more," the study's author, oncologist Anthony Back, told USA Today. "I don't think it's OK for them to talk to the doctor about hospice and never hear from the doctor again," he adds. "I think it just makes that whole process harder." Many of the 55 patients with incurable cancer or advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 36 family caregivers, [...]