Aging is not an illness: Exploring geriatricians' resistance to serious illness conversations

Aging is not an illness: Exploring geriatricians' resistance to serious illness conversations
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, by Alexis Drutchas MD; Deborah S. Lee MD; Sharon Levine MD; Jeffrey L. Greenwald MD; Juliet Jacobsen MD, MPH; 9/23
Three key themes emerged that help explain the reluctance of clinicians caring for older patients to have or document serious illness conversations: 1) aging in itself is not a serious illness; 2) geriatricians often focus on positive adaptation and social determinants of health and in this context, the label of “serious illness conversations” is perceived as limiting; and 3) because aging is not synonymous with illness, important goals-of-care conversations are not necessarily documented as serious illness conversations until an acute illness presents itself.