Do place-of-death preferences for patients receiving specialist palliative care change over time?
Most patients under the care of a specialist palliative care service identify a preference for place of death as end of life approaches. Only a minority change their preference once a preferred place has been elicited. We recommend that patients are supported to explore their preferences for PPD as part of specialist palliative care, and that preferences are reviewed as end of life approaches.
We have shown that mortality following an episode of VAP continues to decrease over time and attribute this to advancements in pulmonary and general critical care rather than any specific interventions.