ACP 2019: Overcoming racial and ethnic barriers to end-of-life care discussions

 End-of-life (EOL) discussions with patients are never easy, but they can be especially difficult when the patient is of a different race and/or ethnicity than the doctor. It can lead to assumptions about the patient’s EOL care that are based on the patient’s background, or the doctor’s own implicit biases, rather than the patient’s actual preferences. To avoid this, doctors need to practice “cultural humility” and spend time getting to know patients individually before engaging in EOL discussions.