The Lack of Advance Directives Among Hospice Patients

This study reported a lower than expected prevalence of advance directives among hospice patients. The presence of an advance directive was related to certain sociodemographic factors, diagnosis, and previous physician-patient advance directive discussions. Barriers that precluded the completion of an advance directive primarily involved a lack of physician-patient advance directive discussions or a lack of patient understanding. This study confirmed the importance of physician-patient discussion toward completion of an advance directive. Improving physician-patient communication about this issue should increase the prevalence of advance directive completion among hospice patients. [Single or multiple copies of this article are available from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST).]