Journal Article

Engaging Patients And Their Loved Ones In The Ultimate Conversation

Bisognano, Maureen, Goodman, Ellen

2013

Overview

There may be no topic more critical for patient engagement than health care choices at the end of life. Death, like birth, is after all a universal experience. Yet people know that too many Americans are not dying in the way they would choose -- for example, by receiving palliative care at home, rather than potentially futile rescue care in the hospital. Enter the Conversation Project, a grassroots public campaign designed to change the way the nation grapples with end-of-life care. As a result, the Conversation Project launched a full-blown public engagement campaign in August 2012, encouraging people to have honest and intimate discussions with their loved ones at the kitchen table about how they want to spend their last days. One of the Conversation Ready pioneers is UPMC, a large integrated delivery system. This institution is developing ways for end-of-life preferences to become a standard part of the electronic health record, accessible to any provider in the system.

• Publisher: The People to People Health Foundation, Inc., Project HOPE
• Subject: Campaigns / Childrens art / Clergy / Conversation / Decision making / End of life decisions / Grass roots movement / Health behavior / Health care / Health services / Hospice care / Life / Medical decision making / Medical records / Palliative care / Patients / Physician patient relationships / Pilot projects / Social networks / Social services delivery / Websites