Are Safety-Net Primary Care Physicians Prepared to Engage in Serious Illness Conversations?

Background: Advance Care Planning (ACP) has not reliably improved care for patients at end-of-life. Serious Illness Conversations when patients are in the late stages of chronic illness might be more effective to address patients’ goals. The Serious Illness Conversation (SIC) Guide has been helpful but was not developed for use in safety-net settings serving racial and ethnic minority populations. Methods: Physicians were recruited to complete a needs assessment survey prior to training in the use of the SIC Guide. Results: Of the 44 physician participants, most were female (82%) and white, non-Hispanic (62%). Less than half of respondents rated themselves as skilled or very skilled in basic serious illness communication related tasks such as setting up goals of care discussions (44%), assessing informational preferences (42%), sharing prognosis (38%), exploring goals for future care (49%) and managing family dynamics (44%). Respondents reported lower skill levels in conducting goals of care conversations via telehealth and establishing trust in racially discordant provider/patient pairs. Conclusions: Most participants expressed the need for further training in critical end-of-life communications skills, including help with encounters with racial and/or language discordance. This may help to explain the failure of ACP discussions to reliably result in appropriate end-of-life care.