Physician Perceptions and Beliefs Regarding End-of-Life Care in a Central California Health System.

We sought to describe the preparedness, beliefs, and experience regarding end-of-life (EOL) care for in-training and attending physicians. We hoped to clarify how medical training impacts views about EOL, and topics where physicians desire more EOL training. An online anonymous survey was sent to 766 physicians who worked at Community Medical Centers in Fresno, California from October to December 2016.

Earlier Palliative Care Referrals Associated with Reduced Length of Stay and Hospital Charges.

Inpatient palliative care consultation services have been shown to have a dramatic impact on the time cancer patients spend in the hospital, which directly affects overall health care charges and expenditures. Our study looks at early palliative care consults in patients with a variety of chronic medical conditions as well as cancer. This is a retrospective case-control study of patients referred to the palliative care department from April 2014 to June 2016.