# Dr Tintinalli on End of Life Care

About This Podcast

What does Dr. Tintinalli do when she has a dying patient and a family who needs help to make decisions and understand the options? – She gets involved. She calls the PCP. She gets palliative care on the line. She advocates for the patient to help make sure their wishes are understood and honored. There comes a time when you go from prolonging life to prolonging death. Knowing when that point is can be hard.

There are many models for how palliative care can work in an ED. We can provide it ourselves to a certain extent, and in some cases, can consult palliative care services to help with end-of-life decisions. But we should do something to make sure we consider the patient’s wishes before performing aggressive measures that could leave the patient with a quality of life that would not be meaningful for them.

Play the Episode

https://youtu.be/VcXbtvrhkFI

Additional Information on Palliative Care

Next, listen to the 3-part series on Geriatric Toxicology with Dr. May Yen. 

Play Part 1

Play Part 2

Play Part 3

View All Palliative Care Resources >

References

Rosenberg M, Rosenberg L. Integrated model of palliative care in the emergency department. West J Emerg Med. 2013;14(6):633-636. PMID: 24381685

Rosenberg M, Lamba S, Misra S. Palliative medicine and geriatric emergency care: Challenges, opportunities, and basic principles. Clin Geriatr Med. 2013;29(1):1-29 PMID: 23177598

Grudzen CR, Richardson LD, Hopper SS, Ortiz JM, Whang C, Morrison RS. Does palliative care have a future in the emergency department? discussions with attending emergency physicians. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2012;43(1):1-9. PMID: 21802899

Grudzen CR, Richardson LD, Morrison M, Cho E, Morrison RS. Palliative care needs of seriously ill, older adults presenting to the emergency department. Acad Emerg Med. 2010;17(11):1253-1257. PMID: 21175525

Quest TE, Marco CA, Derse AR. Hospice and palliative medicine: New subspecialty, new opportunities. Ann Emerg Med. 2009;54(1):94-102. PMID: 19185393

Penrod JD, Deb P, Dellenbaugh C, et al. Hospital-based palliative care consultation: Effects on hospital cost. J Palliat Med. 2010;13(8):973-979. PMID: 20642361

Penrod JD, Deb P, Luhrs C, et al. Cost and utilization outcomes of patients receiving hospital-based palliative care consultation. J Palliat Med. 2006;9(4):855-860. PMID: 16910799

Beemath A, Zalenski RJ. Palliative emergency medicine: Resuscitating comfort care? Ann Emerg Med. 2009;54(1):103-105. PMID: 19346031

Ciemins EL, Blum L, Nunley M, Lasher A, Newman JM. The economic and clinical impact of an inpatient palliative care consultation service: A multifaceted approach. J Palliat Med. 2007;10(6):1347-1355. PMID: 18095814

Barbera L, Taylor C, Dudgeon D. Why do patients with cancer visit the emergency department near the end of life? CMAJ. 2010;182(6):563-568. PMID: 20231340

Image credit [1] Used with permission

This entry was posted in Palliative Care and tagged Emergency Medicine, Geriatrics, Palliative Care. Bookmark the permalink.