Advance care planning discussions in advanced cancer: analysis of dialogues between patients and care planning mediators.

Objective: Advance care planning (ACP) provides patients with an opportunity to consider, discuss, and plan their future care with health professionals. Numerous policy documents recommend that ACP should be available to all with life-limiting illness.

Method: Forty patients with recurrent progressive cancer completed one or more ACP discussions with a trained planning mediator using a standardized topic guide.

Advance care planning in advanced cancer: can it be achieved? An exploratory randomized patient preference trial of a care planning discussion.

Objective: Little is known about the effectiveness of advance care planning in the United Kingdom, although policy documents recommend that it should be available to all those with life-limiting illness.

Method: An exploratory patient preference randomized controlled trial of advance care planning discussions with an independent mediator (maximum three sessions) was conducted in London outpatient oncology clinics and a nearby hospice. Seventy-seven patients (mean age 62 years, 39 male) with various forms of recurrent progressive cancer participated, and 68 (88%) completed follow-up at 8 weeks.