Preferences for place of care and place of death: What, how, when and
who to ask?
Abstract
As healthcare systems worldwide are confronted with increasing numbers
of ageing and terminally ill patients, the topic of where people want to
spend their last days has received considerable attention. However, the
strategies that researchers and clinicians use to capture these
end-of-life views vary greatly in four key questions. These include:
what, how, when and who to ask about location preferences. We will argue
that how researchers and clinicians choose to answer these questions
directly influences their findings. Based on these considerations, we
will highlight ways to improve future palliative care and empirical
end-of-life studies by addressing the precision, methods, timing and
sources of preference assessments. Only when we are able to accurately
identify where people want to spend their last days, can we begin to
meet the needs of patients as they approach the final stage of their
lives.