Aim:

To develop consensus recommendations about good clinical practice rules for caring end-of-life patients.

Methods:

A steering committee of 12 Spanish and Portuguese experts proposed 37 recommendations. A two rounds Delphi method was performed, with participation of 105 panellists including internists, other clinicians, nurses, patients, lawyers, bioethicists, health managers, politicians, and journalists. A questionnaire with 5 Likert-type answers for each recommendation was sent to panellists. Strong consensus was defined as > 95% answers completely agree or > 90% agree or completely agree; and weak consensus when > 90% answers completely agree or > 80% agree or completely agree.

Results:

The panel addressed seven specific areas for 37 recommendations spanning: Identification of patients; Knowledge of the disease, Patient’s Values and preferences; Information; Patient’s needs; Support and care; Palliative sedation, and After death care.

Conclusions:

The panel formulated and provided the rationale for recommendations on good clinical practice rules for caring end-of-life patients.

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