Associations between physicians' personal preferences for end-of-life decisions and their own clinical practice: PROPEL survey study in Europe, North America, and Australia.

BACKGROUND

Physicians have significant influence on end-of-life decisions. Therefore, it is important to understand the connection between physicians' personal end-of-life care preferences and clinical practice, and whether there is congruence between what they prefer for themselves and for patients.

AIM

Study to what extent physicians believe their personal end-of-life preferences impact their clinical practice and to what extent physicians' personal treatment option preferences differ from what they prefer for their patients.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 2022 to February 2023.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Eight jurisdictions: Belgium, Italy, Canada, USA (Oregon, Wisconsin, and Georgia), and Australia (Victoria and Queensland). Three physician types were included: general practitioners, palliative care physicians, and other medical specialists.

RESULTS

We analyzed 1157 survey responses. Sixty-two percent of physicians acknowledge considering their own preferences when caring for patients at the end of life and 29.7% believe their personal preferences impact the recommendations they make. Palliative care physicians are less likely to consider their own preferences when caring for and making recommendations to patients. Congruence was found between what physicians prefer for patients and themselves with cardiopulmonary resuscitation considered "not a good option for both" by 99.1% of physicians. Incongruence was found with physicians considering some options "not good for the patient, but good for themselves"-palliative sedation (8.3%), physician-assisted suicide (7.0%), and euthanasia (11.6%).

CONCLUSION

Physicians consider their own preferences when providing care and their preferences impact the recommendations they make to patients. Incongruence exists between what physicians prefer for themselves and what they prefer for patients.