New toolkit offers sustainable solutions to end-of-life care

How can we make end-of-life care more sustainable?

Sustainable Healthcare for Serious Illness & End of Life Care, is a new toolkit developed by a team of researchers and physicians from the McMaster University department of family medicine, Hamilton Family Health Team and PEACH Health Ontario that helps family physicians and primary care teams overcome barriers in advance care planning and delivering patient-centered care through a life-limiting illness.

“The toolkit addresses a gap in advance care planning and end-of-life care by applying a sustainability lens,” explains Myles Sergeant, one of the toolkit’s lead authors and an assistant clinical professor at the McMaster department of family medicine.

“End-of-life care consumes many resources and produces significant greenhouse gases,” Sergeant explains. “Providing patient-centered care that prioritizes a patient’s care goals, values, and dignity, is not only better for patients and their families, but the environment too.” 

Canadian and international resources and tools are listed throughout the toolkit. Readers are also introduced to compassionate communities and the palliative approach to care.

“These resources and tools will assist primary care teams in learning about and using the latest approaches to advance care planning and end-of-life care,” says Sergeant.

By adopting these sustainable, patient-centered strategies, family physicians and primary care teams can create a future where health care is as compassionate to the planet as it is to its people, ensuring dignity and respect at every stage of life. 

Refer to the toolkit: Sustainable Healthcare for Serious Illness & End of Life Care