Table 3.
Importance of elements related to end-of-life care from patients' perspective
| Question | Extremely/Somewhat Unimportant | Unsure | Extremely/Somewhat Important |
|---|---|---|---|
| How important is it for you to be informed about your prognosis (i.e., how your illness will progress)? | 6.0 | 2.2 | 90.6 |
| How important is detailed information about your medical condition? | 3.3 | 2.7 | 90.6 |
| How important is it for you to be informed about treatment options such as withdrawing dialysis? | 6.9 | 4.3 | 85.1 |
| How important is it for you to have your physical symptoms (e.g., pain, nausea) treated by the nephrology staff? | 8.2 | 5.5 | 84.4 |
| How important is it for you to be prepared and plan ahead in case of death? | 5.5 | 7.7 | 83.2 |
| How important is it to you to have access to information on alternative ways to manage your physical symptoms (e.g., traditional medicine, new treatments, holistic care, etc.) | 8.5 | 8.0 | 80.5 |
| How important is it to you for your family to be actively involved in medical decision making? | 11.5 | 6.3 | 79.3 |
| How important is it for your “quality of life” responses to affect your future care? | 6.7 | 13.2 | 76.1 |
| How important is it for you to discuss your “quality of life” regularly with our nephrology staff? | 13.2 | 8.4 | 72.1 |
| How important is it for you to have your social, psychological, or spiritual concerns attended to by nephrology staff? | 22.9 | 15.2 | 56.5 |
Values are percentages. Even where data were missing, percentage was calculated out of the total number of study patients (N = 584).