Patients with advanced kidney disease (CKD, ESRD) use less palliative care and hospice services and more intensive and aggressive medical care compared to those with other advanced illnesses. Early palliative care interventions in oncology have demonstrated improvements in communication, informed decision-making and end-of-life planning. With the average patient with advanced kidney disease living longer, similar palliative care interventions are becoming increasingly more common for this population, as described in an article published last month in Current Opinions in Nephrology and Hypertension. There is also a need to bridge the gap in utilization of these services for those of different ethnic and racial backgrounds.
Link to Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens via Medscape (8/2017) (free access with site registration)