A palliative approach to care: lack of practice standards in sharing goals of care conversations

Abstract

As Canadians continue to live longer and acquire multiple comorbidities, it is more crucial to integrate palliative care services throughout the illness trajectory and across care settings. This has been further underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has expediated the need for goals of care (GOC) conversations and advance care planning due to illness severity and mortality in vulnerable populations. Here, we comment on the qualitative results of a recent quality improvement project investigating the current state of documentation and workflow practice standards for GOC in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and propose key opportunities for improvement.