End-of-life caregiver interactions with health care providers: learning from the bad.

This qualitative study examined caregivers' perceptions of and stories about their interactions with nonhospice health care providers. The sample included 27 family caregivers who provided the majority of in-home physical care and emotional support to the elders for at least 6 months. Caregivers described some startling interactions that suggest the need to reevaluate health care professionals' abilities and attitudes concerning their treatment and communication with family caregivers and their elders dying from life-limiting illnesses.