Context: Shared decisions between health care providers and patients and families are replacing the traditional physician-driven plans of care. Hospice philosophy recognizes the patient and family as a unit of care and embraces their role in decision making.
Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the shared decisions between hospice nurses and patients and family members.
Methods: A secondary analysis of audio recordings of 65 home hospice nurse visits from 65 home hospice nurse visits in 11 different U.S. hospice programs.
Results: To varying degrees, hospice nurses used all the recommended elements of shared decision making during home visits with patients and families; however, not all elements were used in every visit. The most commonly used element was defining a problem, and the least used element was the assessment of patient and family understanding.
Conclusions: Hospice staff can benefit from a more purposeful shared decision-making process and a greater focus on assessment of patient and family understanding and ability to implement plans of care.
Keywords: Shared decision making; caregiving; family; hospice; nurse visits.
Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.