Dataset Information

Role and involvement of life end information forum physicians in euthanasia and other end-of-life care decisions in Flanders, Belgium.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To describe role and involvement of Life End Information Forum (LEIF) physicians in end-of-life care decisions and euthanasia in Flanders.

Study design

All 132 LEIF physicians in Belgium received a questionnaire inquiring about their activities in the past year, and their end-of-life care training and experience.

Principal findings

Response rate was 75 percent. Most respondents followed substantive training in end-of-life care. In 1 year, LEIF physicians were contacted 612 times for consultations in end-of-life decisions, of which 355 concerned euthanasia requests eventually resulting in 221 euthanasia cases. LEIF physicians also gave information about various end-of-life issues (including palliative care) to patients and colleagues.

Conclusions

LEIF physicians provide a forum for information and advice for physicians and patients. A similar health service providing support to physicians for all end-of-life decisions could also be beneficial for countries without a euthanasia law.

SUBMITTER: Van Wesemael Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2796321 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Role and involvement of life end information forum physicians in euthanasia and other end-of-life care decisions in Flanders, Belgium.

Van Wesemael Yanna Y Cohen Joachim J Onwuteaka-Philipsen Bregje D BD Bilsen Johan J Distelmans Wim W Deliens Luc L

Health services research 20090924 6

<h4>Objective</h4>To describe role and involvement of Life End Information Forum (LEIF) physicians in end-of-life care decisions and euthanasia in Flanders.<h4>Study design</h4>All 132 LEIF physicians in Belgium received a questionnaire inquiring about their activities in the past year, and their end-of-life care training and experience.<h4>Principal findings</h4>Response rate was 75 percent. Most respondents followed substantive training in end-of-life care. In 1 year, LEIF physicians were cont ...[more]

PMID: 19780854

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Reliable studies of the incidence and characteristics of medical end-of-life decisions with a certain or possible life shortening effect (ELDs) are indispensable for an evidence-based medical and societal debate on this issue. This article presents the protocol drafted for the 2007 ELD Study in Flanders, Belgium, and outlines how the main aims and challenges of the study (i.e. making reliable incidence estimates of end-of-life decisions, even rare ones, and describing their characteristics; allowing comparability with past ELD studies; guaranteeing strict anonymity given the sensitive nature of the research topic; and attaining a sufficient response rate) are addressed in a post-mortem survey using a representative sample of death certificates. STUDY DESIGN: Reliable incidence estimates are achievable by using large at random samples of death certificates of deceased persons in Flanders (aged one year or older). This entails the cooperation of the appropriate administrative authorities. To further ensure the reliability of the estimates and descriptions, especially of less prevalent end-of-life decisions (e.g. euthanasia), a stratified sample is drawn. A questionnaire is sent out to the certifying physician of each death sampled. The questionnaire, tested thoroughly and avoiding emotionally charged terms is based largely on questions that have been validated in previous national and European ELD studies. Anonymity of both patient and physician is guaranteed through a rigorous procedure, involving a lawyer as intermediary between responding physicians and researchers. To increase response we follow the Total Design Method (TDM) with a maximum of three follow-up mailings. Also, a non-response survey is conducted to gain insight into the reasons for lack of response. DISCUSSION: The protocol of the 2007 ELD Study in Flanders, Belgium, is appropriate for achieving the objectives of the study; as past studies in Belgium, the Netherlands, and other European countries have shown, strictly anonymous and thorough surveys among physicians using a large, stratified, and representative death certificate sample are most suitable in nationwide studies of incidence and characteristics of end-of-life decisions. There are however also some limitations to the study design.

Project description:"Watervogels - Wintering waterbirds in Flanders, Belgium" is a sampling event dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). It contains more than 94,000 sampling events (site counts), covering over 710,000 species observations (and zero counts when there is no associated occurrence) and 36 million individual birds for the period 1991-2016. The dataset includes information on 167 different species in nearly 1,100 wetland sites. The aim of these bird counts is to gather information on the size, distribution, and long-term trends of wintering waterbird populations in Flanders. These data are also used to assess the importance of individual sites for waterbirds, using quantitative criteria. Furthermore, the waterbird counts contribute to international monitoring programs, such as the International Waterbird Census (coordinated by Wetlands International) and fulfil some of the objectives of the European Bird Directive, the Ramsar Convention, and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). Here the dataset is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each event: a stable event ID, date and location of observation and a short description of the sampling protocol, effort and conditions (in the event core), supplemented with specific information for each occurrence: a stable occurrence ID, the scientific name and higher classification of the observed species, the number of recorded individuals, and a reference to the observer of the record (in the occurrence extension). Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/inbo/data-publication/issues. The following information is not included in this dataset and available upon request: roost site counts, counts from historical (inactive) locations and counts from before 1991. We have released this dataset to the public domain under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). We would appreciate it if you follow the INBO norms for data use (https://www.inbo.be/en/norms-data-use) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, do not hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via opendata@inbo.be.

Dataset Information

Role and involvement of life end information forum physicians in euthanasia and other end-of-life care decisions in Flanders, Belgium.

Objective

Study design

Principal findings

Conclusions

Publications

Role and involvement of life end information forum physicians in euthanasia and other end-of-life care decisions in Flanders, Belgium.

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