Hospital Culture and Intensity of End-of-Life Care at 3 Academic Medical Centers.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

There is substantial institutional variability in the intensity of end-of-life care that is not explained by patient preferences. Hospital culture and institutional structures (eg, policies, practices, protocols, resources) might contribute to potentially nonbeneficial high-intensity life-sustaining treatments near the end of life.

Objective

To understand the role of hospital culture in the everyday dynamics of high-intensity end-of-life care.

Design, setting, and participants

This comparative ethnographic study was conducted at 3 academic hospitals in California and Washington that differed in end-of-life care intensity based on measures in the Dartmouth Atlas and included hospital-based clinicians, administrators, and leaders. Data were deductively and in

SUBMITTER: Dzeng E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10318547 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature