Patient Perspectives on Serious Illness Conversations in Primary Care

Abstract

Background:

The Serious Illness Care Program has been shown to improve quality and feasibility of value-based end-of-life conversations in primary care.

Objectives:

To elicit patients' perspectives on serious illness conversations conducted by primary care clinicians.

Subjects and Methods:

Telephone interviews were conducted with patients at an academic center in the United States, who had a recent serious illness conversation with their primary care clinician. Interviews were audio-recorded and qualitatively analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results:

A total of eleven patients were enrolled. We identified three major themes: (1) positive emotional experiences are facilitated by established patient-clinician relationships and/or clinicians' skills in navigating emotional challenges, (2) patients appreciate a personalized conversation, and (3) clinicians should orchestrate the experience of the conversation, from preparation through follow-up.

Conclusion:

Patients appreciate having serious illness conversations in the primary care setting. Future efforts can be focused on improving clinicians' skills in navigating emotional challenges during conversations and implementing system changes to optimize orchestration.