Opioid use in the acute setting: A survey of providers at an academic medical center.

Objective: To examine attitudes, beliefs, and influencing factors of inpatient healthcare providers regarding prescription of opioid analgesics.

Design: Electronic cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Pharmacy residents' preparedness for the emotional challenges of patient care.

Purpose: Results of a survey to determine levels of pharmacy resident exposure to and preparedness for emotionally unsettling clinical scenarios are presented.

Methods: A pretested electronic survey was distributed to 1501 U.S.

"It helps me see with my heart": how video informs patients' rationale for decisions about future care in advanced dementia.

Objective: To explore how a video of a patient with advanced dementia impacts the rationale for patients' decisions about future care.

Methods: Participants were read a verbal description of advanced dementia and asked their preferences for future care--either life-prolonging, limited, or comfort care--and the rationale for that choice. Participants then watched a video of a patient with advanced dementia and again stated their preferred level of care and the rationale.

Changes in internal medicine residents' attitudes about resuscitation after cardiac arrest over a decade.

Background: Resident physicians' beliefs about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) may impact their communication with patients about end-of-life care. We sought to understand how these perceptions and experiences have changed in the past decade because both medical education and American society have focused more on this domain.

Method: We surveyed 2 internal medicine resident cohorts at a large academic medical center in 1995 and 2005.

Communication and decision making about life-sustaining treatment: examining the experiences of resident physicians and seriously-ill hospitalized patients.

Background: Despite evidence-based recommendations for communication and decision making about life-sustaining treatment, resident physicians' actual practice may vary. Few prior studies have examined these conversations qualitatively to uncover why ineffective communication styles may persist.

Objective: To explore how discussions about life-sustaining treatment occur and examine the factors that influence physicians' communicative practices in hopes of providing novel insight into how these processes can be improved.

Discussing preferences for cardiopulmonary resuscitation: what do resident physicians and their hospitalized patients think was decided?

Objective: To explore the ways in which seriously ill hospitalized patients, their family members and physicians interpret the discussion of the patient's preferences for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Methods: Resident physicians, their patients, and family members were interviewed following a discussion regarding preferences for CPR. We sought the participants' perceptions of the resulting decision, examined how often these interpretations differed, and explored the communicative factors underlying discrepancies when they occurred.

Medical residents' perspectives on discussions of advanced directives: can prior experience affect how they approach patients?

Introduction: Resident physicians are inadequately taught how to communicate with patients about end-of-life decision making. Their beliefs about resuscitation and prior experiences with end-of-life care may impact the manner in which they approach patients.

Objective: To explore residents' perceptions of end-of-life discussions, determine the features they find most important, and discern the challenges they face in this process.