Abstract
Comfort care measures have become synonymous with end-of-life care. A previous study published in 2013 showed that there was little agreement on when or how comfort care measures should be initiated and what constituted comfort care measures. We conducted our own survey among doctors of various ranks and specialities in a local tertiary hospital to obtain a better understanding of their perception of comfort care. A total of 92 doctors responded. There was still lack of agreement on what comfort measures meant despite advances in palliative care. Our survey revealed that many doctors felt that initiation of comfort measures was not dependent on the patient’s prognosis. Many were also willing to offer treatment of infections and reversible conditions in patients on comfort measures. Views were split over the extent of oxygen support, nutrition and hydration, level of care facility, blood draws and opioid use in patients on comfort measures. Many doctors felt that do-not-resuscitate and comfort-measures-only orders were linked, and knowing that patients were on comfort measures and the reason for it were useful in management. A better approach when addressing plans for comfort measures would be to discuss the expected symptoms and its management, and tailor an individual care plan for each patient.
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