The Serious Illness Care Program helps oncologists have better conversations with their terminally-ill patients without creating anxiety or depression, according to a clinical trial.

“I was most surprised to see the significant improvement in discussions about prognosis and illness understanding, as well as values and goals, that occurred as a result of the intervention,” said Dr Rachelle Bernacki of Ariadne Labs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, US.

“About 90% of patients in the intervention group had conversations with their oncology clinicians addressing these important issues, compared to fewer than half of patients in the control group,” she said.

Dr Bernacki and her colleagues investigated the effects of the Serious Illness Care Program (SICP) on the occurrence, timing, quality and accessibility of documented serious-illness conversations between oncology clinicians and patients with advanced cancer.