The contagion of optimism: The relationship between patient optimism and palliative care clinician overestimation of survival among hospitalized patients with advanced cancer.

Objective: Clinicians frequently overestimate survival time among seriously ill patients, and this can result in medical treatment at end of life that does not reflect the patient's preferences. Little is known, however, about the sources of clinicians' optimistic bias in survival estimation. Related work in social networks and experimental psychology demonstrates that psychological states-such as optimism-can transfer from one person to another.

Racial/ethnic differences in prognosis communication during initial inpatient palliative care consultations among people with advanced cancer.

Objective: We examined whether conversations involving Black or Latino patients with advanced cancer differ in the presence or characteristics of prognosis communication.

Methods: We audio-recorded initial consultations between 54 palliative care clinicians and 231 hospitalized people with advanced cancer. We coded for the presence and characteristics of prognosis communication.

End-of-Life Preferences, Length-of-Life Conversations, and Hospice Enrollment in Palliative Care: A Direct Observation Cohort Study among People with Advanced Cancer.

Context: Prognosis communication is one hypothesized mechanism by which effective palliative care (PC) promotes preference-concordant treatment near end of life (EOL), but little is known about this relationship.

Methods: This is a multisite cohort study of 231 hospitalized patients with advanced cancer who consulted with PC. We audio-recorded the initial consultation with the PC team and coded conversations for all statements regarding expectations for how long the patient will live.

Feeling Heard and Understood in the Hospital Environment: Benchmarking Communication Quality Among Patients With Advanced Cancer Before and After Palliative Care Consultation.

Context: Maximizing value in palliative care requires continued development and standardization of communication quality indicators.

Objectives: To describe the basic epidemiology of a newly adopted patient-centered communication quality indicator for hospitalized palliative care patients with advanced cancer.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 207 advanced cancer patients who received palliative care consultation at two medical centers in the U.