Checklist improves advance care planning?

“I was very dubious,” said Susan D. Block, MD, chair of the Dept. of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

“It seemed mechanical and reductionistic and cold to me, but I’ve warmed up to it. … I’m intrigued, in my mind, by this paradox — that something as routinized as a checklist could help with a conversation so deep and profound and complicated. It has some interesting potential, and we’re going to find out whether it works.”

Links:  

• Article: Checklist approach to be tested in end-of-life care planning, Kevin B. O'Reilly, American Medical News, June 13, 2012
• End of Life Discussion - Check, Practical Bioethics, June 11, 2011
• Podcast: Adding an Agent to "The Talk," Helen Emmott and Sandy Silva, March 22, 2012