End-of-Life Framework: Recommendations for a Provincial EOL Care Strategy

"The need for end-of-life (EOL) care strategies is also being triggered by advances in dialysis that make it increasingly difficult to identify the point at which a patient is recognized as “dying.”When this is combined with patients having incomplete information about their prognosis or a limited understanding of the progression of their illness, health care providers are left treating patients and families unprepared for difficult end-of-life decisions. As a result, palliative care is often delayed or not initiated for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). This, in turn, leads to suboptimal quality of dying experience.
To ensure that nephrologists and clinical staff are knowledgeable and confident in EOL care, the BC Provincial Renal Agency (BCPRA) established an EOL Task Group to develop a provincial framework, guidelines and an educational strategy."