Table 3.

Barriers and Benefits to Palliative Care Consultation on Liver Transplant Service

	Nurses (n = 47), % (n)	PGY1 (n = 23), % (n)	Attendings (n = 18), % (n)	Total (n = 88), p
Barriers to palliative care consultation
PC is always or usually discussed on rounds	0 (0)	0 (0)	38 (6)	<0.01
Clear criteria for PC consultation are not available	50 (19)	42 (8)	33 (5)	0.5
I requested PC consultation for patient on LT list	79 (37)	91 (19)	38 (6)	<0.01
Reasons for failure to consult palliative care
It is difficult to prognosticate end of life in ESLD patients	39 (11)	47 (9)	40 (6)	0.4
PC and LT are mutually exclusive	11 (4)	11 (2)	20 (3)	0.6
It is not my place to suggest PC consultation	55 (21)	68 (13)	7 (1)	<0.01
I did not believe PC would offer additional benefit	8 (3)	32 (6)	33 (5)	0.03
I thought the patient would perceive team is giving up	19 (7)	21 (4)	33 (5)	0.5
Involving PC is giving up on the patient	5 (2)	5 (1)	7 (1)	1.0
Benefits to palliative care consultation
Patients welcomed GOC discussions	84 (38)	77 (17)	87 (14)	0.07
Patients were grateful for PC consultation	90 (35)	100 (18)	100 (15)	0.2
PC helped provide higher quality of care	93 (38)	100 (18)	100 (15)	0.3
There were patients who did not receive PC consultation who would have benefitted from one	93 (42)	95 (18)	50 (8)	<0.01

Most providers agree that there are no clear criteria for consulting PC in the LT population. Respondent groups agreed that PC and LT are not mutually exclusive. Nurses and PGY1 did not recommend PC because they felt it was not their place. Respondents agreed that there were multiple benefits to PC consultation. Attendings were least likely to report that there were patients who may have benefitted from PC but did not receive a PC consultation.

ESLD, end-stage liver disease; GOC, goals of care; PC, palliative care.

Bolded values are statistically significant.