Purpose/Objectives: To describe nurse–caregiver communication on the day of patient death. Design: A descriptive secondary analysis of 44 audio-recorded home hospice nursing visits on day of death. Setting: Nine hospices in Utah, Oregon, and Massachusetts. Sample: 42 caregiver–patient dyads, 27...

Background: Many patients with incurable cancer do not accurately understand their prognosis, which can lead to aggressive and, often, futile treatment. Improved prognostic awareness can help patients to appropriately de-escalate aggressive treatment sooner in an illness trajectory. Objectives: The...

Background: When an outpatient in a northeastern cancer institute requested a Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) form, the state’s approved resuscitation form in all settings, none were available. A project was undertaken to institute MOLST forms into policy and routine practice...

Do-not-resuscitate orders can promote patients’ dignity near the end of life, but they also can carry safety hazards associated with miscommunication and inappropriate withdrawal of certain kinds of care. Oncology nurses have a responsibility to identify these potential hazards and to intervene as...