Editorial
The clinician and their patient at the end of life
El médico clínico ante el paciente en el final de sus días
P. Conthe
Sección de Medicina Interna, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain
Read
12
Timeswas read the article
4
Total PDF
8
Total HTML
Share statistics
array:24 [ "pii" => "S225488741730139X" "issn" => "22548874" "doi" => "10.1016/j.rceng.2017.10.008" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2018-01-01" "aid" => "1448" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI)" "copyrightAnyo" => "2017" "documento" => "simple-article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "edi" "cita" => "Rev Clin Esp. 2018;218:15-6" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:2 [ "total" => 2 "formatos" => array:2 [ "HTML" => 1 "PDF" => 1 ] ] "Traduccion" => array:1 [ "es" => array:19 [ "pii" => "S001425651730259X" "issn" => "00142565" "doi" => "10.1016/j.rce.2017.10.006" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2018-01-01" "aid" => "1448" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI)" "documento" => "simple-article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "edi" "cita" => "Rev Clin Esp. 2018;218:15-6" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:2 [ "total" => 182 "formatos" => array:2 [ "HTML" => 118 "PDF" => 64 ] ] "es" => array:10 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Editorial</span>" "titulo" => "El médico clínico ante el paciente en el final de sus días" "tienePdf" => "es" "tieneTextoCompleto" => "es" "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "15" "paginaFinal" => "16" ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "en" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "The clinician and their patient at the end of life" ] ] "contieneTextoCompleto" => array:1 [ "es" => true ] "contienePdf" => array:1 [ "es" => true ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "autoresLista" => "P. Conthe" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "P." "apellidos" => "Conthe" ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "es" "Traduccion" => array:1 [ "en" => array:9 [ "pii" => "S225488741730139X" "doi" => "10.1016/j.rceng.2017.10.008" "estado" => "S300" "subdocumento" => "" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S225488741730139X?idApp=WRCEE" ] ] "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S001425651730259X?idApp=WRCEE" "url" => "/00142565/0000021800000001/v1_201801070655/S001425651730259X/v1_201801070655/es/main.assets" ] ] "itemSiguiente" => array:19 [ "pii" => "S2254887417300954" "issn" => "22548874" "doi" => "10.1016/j.rceng.2017.06.002" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2018-01-01" "aid" => "1413" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI)" "documento" => "article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "fla" "cita" => "Rev Clin Esp. 2018;218:17-21" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:2 [ "total" => 5 "PDF" => 5 ] "en" => array:12 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Special article</span>" "titulo" => "Transition from pediatric care to adult care for patients with mucopolysaccharidosis" "tienePdf" => "en" "tieneTextoCompleto" => "en" "tieneResumen" => array:2 [ 0 => "en" 1 => "es" ] "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "17" "paginaFinal" => "21" ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "Transición desde la asistencia pediátrica a la adulta en pacientes con mucopolisacaridosis" ] ] "contieneResumen" => array:2 [ "en" => true "es" => true ] "contieneTextoCompleto" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "contienePdf" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "autoresLista" => "M.L. Couce, M. del Toro, M.C. García-Jiménez, L. Gutierrez-Solana, Á. Hermida-Ameijeiras, M. López-Rodríguez, J. Pérez-López, M.Á. Torralba" "autores" => array:8 [ 0 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "M.L." "apellidos" => "Couce" ] 1 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "M." "apellidos" => "del Toro" ] 2 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "M.C." "apellidos" => "García-Jiménez" ] 3 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "L." "apellidos" => "Gutierrez-Solana" ] 4 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Á." "apellidos" => "Hermida-Ameijeiras" ] 5 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "M." "apellidos" => "López-Rodríguez" ] 6 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "J." "apellidos" => "Pérez-López" ] 7 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "M.Á." "apellidos" => "Torralba" ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "Traduccion" => array:1 [ "es" => array:9 [ "pii" => "S0014256517301558" "doi" => "10.1016/j.rce.2017.06.005" "estado" => "S300" "subdocumento" => "" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "idiomaDefecto" => "es" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S0014256517301558?idApp=WRCEE" ] ] "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S2254887417300954?idApp=WRCEE" "url" => "/22548874/0000021800000001/v1_201801040959/S2254887417300954/v1_201801040959/en/main.assets" ] "itemAnterior" => array:19 [ "pii" => "S2254887417301297" "issn" => "22548874" "doi" => "10.1016/j.rceng.2017.09.005" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2018-01-01" "aid" => "1440" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI)" "documento" => "simple-article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "edi" "cita" => "Rev Clin Esp. 2018;218:13-4" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:2 [ "total" => 2 "PDF" => 2 ] "en" => array:10 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Editorial</span>" "titulo" => "The clinical value of an exaggerated hypertensive response to exercise" "tienePdf" => "en" "tieneTextoCompleto" => "en" "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "13" "paginaFinal" => "14" ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "El valor clínico de la respuesta hipertensiva exagerada al ejercicio" ] ] "contieneTextoCompleto" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "contienePdf" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "autoresLista" => "J. Sobrino, M. Domenech" "autores" => array:2 [ 0 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "J." "apellidos" => "Sobrino" ] 1 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "M." "apellidos" => "Domenech" ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "Traduccion" => array:1 [ "es" => array:9 [ "pii" => "S0014256517302321" "doi" => "10.1016/j.rce.2017.09.006" "estado" => "S300" "subdocumento" => "" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "idiomaDefecto" => "es" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S0014256517302321?idApp=WRCEE" ] ] "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S2254887417301297?idApp=WRCEE" "url" => "/22548874/0000021800000001/v1_201801040959/S2254887417301297/v1_201801040959/en/main.assets" ] "en" => array:12 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Editorial</span>" "titulo" => "The clinician and their patient at the end of life" "tieneTextoCompleto" => true "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "15" "paginaFinal" => "16" ] ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:3 [ "autoresLista" => "P. Conthe" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "P." "apellidos" => "Conthe" "email" => array:1 [ 0 => "pedro.conthe@salud.madrid.org" ] ] ] "afiliaciones" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "entidad" => "Sección de Medicina Interna, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain" "identificador" => "aff0005" ] ] ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "El médico clínico ante el paciente en el final de sus días" ] ] "textoCompleto" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSections"><p id="par0005" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">End-of-life medical care is a significant challenge for health departments in developed societies. The decision to limit therapeutic efforts (LTE) is one of the medical acts that requires greater experience, understanding, sensitivity and compassion to prevent needless suffering by the patient and those close to them. All clinicians need to address this fact when faced with a patient at the end of their life. The care of patients at the end of life has become a routine and growing situation in acute care hospitals.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0050"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">1–5</span></a> Each day, more deaths occur in the hospital setting, specifically in internal medicine departments where the mortality rate varies between 8% and 22%.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0055"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">2</span></a> Death and the acceptance of its reality as a phenomenon tied to the essence of life is a complex topic. Over the past century, numerous philosophers, humanists and bioethicists have stated that we are witnessing the so-called “denial of death”.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0075"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">6,7</span></a> Death is one of the few taboos that the family, the medical class, the healthcare system and society as a whole turns their back on, as if it were not a fact of nature. The inexperienced physician, even with a high degree of technical expertise, often lacks training in addressing these situations.</p><p id="par0010" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">In this edition of <span class="elsevierStyleSmallCaps">Revista Clínica Española</span>, a study was published that addressed this important topic.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0085"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">8</span></a> It is a study with merit, despite its numerous limitations. As indicated by the authors, the study is essentially a simple description of the basic clinical characteristics of a small group of patients who died during hospitalization, with the typical biases of a retrospective study. The study described how some type of LTE was reflected in these cases. As expected, the patients had advanced age and comorbidity, were mostly considered terminal and had sedation prescribed hours before their death. It is noteworthy that the main causes of death were varied (less than 10% due to cancer), and there was a long period from admission to the LTE decision. The study's limitations included the lack of knowledge as to the specific reason why the clinicians adopted LTE measures. The study also makes no reference to the presence or absence of strategies or availability of precise protocols, drugs or doses. The study also lacks data on the information provided to the patient and community (main caregivers and other relatives), the strategy for transmitting the information, the patient's wishes and the degree of perceived satisfaction in their final medical care. All of these aspects can comprise areas for future research. The results reflect that the implementation of terminal care in hospital internal medicine departments is not efficient.</p><p id="par0015" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">However, we can highlight some relevant data from the study: (1) The prescription of LTE measures is very common among patients who die in internal medicine departments; (2) most terminal patients who are admitted to internal medicine department are admitted for nononcologic diseases, which can lead to a delay in identifying the process as terminal; and (3) it seems plausible that there is a delay in starting palliative treatment; improving our competence in identifying terminal nononcologic patients is therefore essential.</p><p id="par0020" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Clinicians who treat patients in the final phase of life require, in addition to a realistic and inclusive vision, a considerable capacity for communication with the patient and their caregivers. Internists are therefore in a privileged position to perform this function, without compromising other practitioners and specialists. In this field, situations arise in which physicians must make decisions according to the “lex artis”, without absolute certainty but with conviction and the humility that their mission should be limited to caring and consoling. When talking about the end of life, we need to refer to and consider the living will. In Spain, the autonomous communities have taken a step towards legally regulating this type of document. However, the knowledge and use of these documents in actual medical practice is still not sufficiently consolidated.</p><p id="par0025" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">In the European Union, there is considerable variability in the organizational aspects in terms of facilitating a dignified death in the family setting, with the technical and emotional assistance needed. In the United Kingdom, the Royal College of Physicians since 2013 has led a project called Future Hospital/Hospital Without Walls, which seeks to implement periodic Care of Dying Evaluations (CODE), providing recent publications that raise awareness about the importance of end-of-life care demanded by society.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0050"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">1</span></a> In any case, all terminal patients should have access to an appropriate degree of care in all healthcare settings. Healthcare organizations should promote the training and competence of its practitioners in the treatment of pain and end-of-life anxiety, regardless of the care setting, ensuring the continuity of care.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0055"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">2,3,8,9</span></a> The promotion of multidisciplinary study should be considered a key factor for supporting home palliative care and avoiding as much as possible that this difficult end occurs in the hospital.</p></span>" "pdfFichero" => "main.pdf" "tienePdf" => true "NotaPie" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "☆" "nota" => "<p class="elsevierStyleNotepara" id="npar0005">Please cite this article as: Conthe P. El médico clínico ante el paciente en el final de sus días. Rev Clin Esp. 2018;218:15–16.</p>" ] ] "bibliografia" => array:2 [ "titulo" => "References" "seccion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "identificador" => "bibs0015" "bibliografiaReferencia" => array:9 [ 0 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0050" "etiqueta" => "1" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "How well do we currently care for our dying patients in acute hospitals: the views of the bereaved relatives?" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:5 [ 0 => "C.R. Mayland" 1 => "H. Mulholland" 2 => "M. Gambles" 3 => "J. Ellershaw" 4 => "K. Stewart" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1136/bmjspcare-2014-000810" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "BMJ Support Palliat Care" "fecha" => "2017" "volumen" => "7" "paginaInicial" => "316" "paginaFinal" => "325" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28096171" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 1 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0055" "etiqueta" => "2" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:3 [ "comentario" => "Available from: <span class="elsevierStyleInterRef" id="intr0010" href="http://www.mspsi.gob.es/organizacion/sns/planCalidadSNS/docs/paliativos/cuidadospaliativos.pdf">http://www.mspsi.gob.es/organizacion/sns/planCalidadSNS/docs/paliativos/cuidadospaliativos.pdf</span>" "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Sistema Nacional de Salud" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "Estrategia en Cuidados Paliativos" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "Libro" => array:3 [ "fecha" => "2007" "editorial" => "Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo" "editorialLocalizacion" => "Madrid" ] ] ] ] ] ] 2 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0060" "etiqueta" => "3" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:3 [ "comentario" => "Available from: <span class="elsevierStyleInterRef" id="intr0015" href="http://www.guiasalud.es/GPC/GPC_428_Paliativos_Osteba_compl.pdf">http://www.guiasalud.es/GPC/GPC_428_Paliativos_Osteba_compl.pdf</span>" "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "Guía de Práctica Clínica sobre Cuidados Paliativos" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "Libro" => array:1 [ "fecha" => "2008" ] ] ] ] ] ] 3 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0065" "etiqueta" => "4" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Patients hospitalized in advanced or terminal phase of a serious life-threatening disease" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:4 [ 0 => "M.L. Villard" 1 => "N. Carlin" 2 => "G. Laval" 3 => "R. Schaerer" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Presse Med" "fecha" => "2003" "volumen" => "32" "paginaInicial" => "203" "paginaFinal" => "211" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12610460" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 4 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0070" "etiqueta" => "5" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "A terminal care support team in a Paris university hospital: care providers’ views" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:5 [ 0 => "L. Salomon" 1 => "C. Belouet" 2 => "P. Vinant-Binam" 3 => "D. Sicard" 4 => "G. Vidal-Trecan" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "J Palliat Care" "fecha" => "2001" "volumen" => "17" "paginaInicial" => "109" "paginaFinal" => "116" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11477985" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 5 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0075" "etiqueta" => "6" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Cuidados paliativos y Atención Primaria: aspectos organizativos" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:2 [ 0 => "M.A. Benítez" 1 => "M. Salinas" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "Libro" => array:3 [ "fecha" => "2000" "editorial" => "Springer" "editorialLocalizacion" => "Barcelona" ] ] ] ] ] ] 6 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0080" "etiqueta" => "7" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "El hombre y el médico ante la muerte" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "M. Gómez Sancho" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "Libro" => array:3 [ "fecha" => "2006" "editorial" => "Aran Editores" "editorialLocalizacion" => "Madrid" ] ] ] ] ] ] 7 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0085" "etiqueta" => "8" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Limitación del esfuerzo terapéutico en pacientes hospitalizados en servicios de medicina interna" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:6 [ 0 => "R. García Caballero" 1 => "B. Herreros" 2 => "D. Real de Asúa" 3 => "S. Gámez" 4 => "G. Vega" 5 => "L. García Olmos" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "Revista" => array:5 [ "tituloSerie" => "Rev Clin Esp." "fecha" => "2018" "volumen" => "218" "paginaInicial" => "1" "paginaFinal" => "6" ] ] ] ] ] ] 8 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0090" "etiqueta" => "9" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Limitación del esfuerzo terapéutico en pacientes hospitalizados en el servicio de Medicina Interna" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:6 [ 0 => "R. García Caballero" 1 => "B. Herreros" 2 => "D. Real de Asúa" 3 => "R. Alonso" 4 => "M.M. Barrera" 5 => "V. Castilla" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1016/j.cali.2015.11.004" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Rev Calid Asist" "fecha" => "2016" "volumen" => "31" "paginaInicial" => "70" "paginaFinal" => "75" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26778794" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "url" => "/22548874/0000021800000001/v1_201801040959/S225488741730139X/v1_201801040959/en/main.assets" "Apartado" => array:4 [ "identificador" => "71812" "tipo" => "SECCION" "en" => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Editorial articles" "idiomaDefecto" => true ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" ] "PDF" => "https://static.elsevier.es/multimedia/22548874/0000021800000001/v1_201801040959/S225488741730139X/v1_201801040959/en/main.pdf?idApp=WRCEE&text.app=https://revclinesp.es/" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S225488741730139X?idApp=WRCEE" ]
| Year/Month | Html | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 March | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| 2018 January | 1 | 1 | 2 |
