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Topics:
Radiation Oncology • Gynecologic Oncology • Palliation • Pediatric Hematology/Oncology • Medical Oncology • Hematology • Palliative Care
What screening tools or signs do you use to predict if a cancer patient is near end-of-life?
There is conflicting data on whether the "surprise question" performs adequately enough. Do you use this or other screening tools alone, or in combination with other data such as albumin/pre-albumin, cancer cachexia, muscle wasting, etc?
Answer from: Medical Oncologist at Academic Institution
It is very true that the "surprise" question does not adequately perform in identifying people who may be nearing the end of life. There are no other standardized screening tools that I use however. Therefore, the "surprise question" is the most frequently used because it makes clinicians at l...
Comments
Medical Oncologist at Grays Harbor House Hospitalist
Brief, concise, and good advice! Not like what we ...
Brief, concise, and good advice! Not like what we ...
Answer from: Medical Oncologist at Community Practice
When I see patients with incurable cancers, I usually ask at the first visit, whether they have a living will and what it says. Very few people seem to have filled one. I give them the state form to fill, but that form is very vague. I do recommend no resuscitation if the heart stops beating, as the...
Agree. Nothing is better than the "eyeball" test. ...
This underscores the importance of oncologists phy...
The fact that someone thought that this question n...
One thing I found helps patients in planning their...