Hogan C, Lunney J, Gabel J, Lynn J Medicare beneficiaries' costs of care in the last year of life. Health Aff (Millwood). 2001 Jul-Aug;20(4):188-95.
Hua MS, Li G, Blinderman CD, Wunsch H Estimates of the need for palliative care consultation across united states intensive care units using a trigger-based model. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2014 Feb 15;189(4):428-36. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201307-1229OC.
O'Connor AM, Llewellyn-Thomas HA, Flood AB Modifying unwarranted variations in health care: shared decision making using patient decision aids. Health Aff (Millwood). 2004;Suppl Variation:VAR63-72. Review.
Prendergast TJ, Claessens MT, Luce JM A national survey of end-of-life care for critically ill patients. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1998 Oct;158(4):1163-7.
Riley GF, Lubitz JD Long-term trends in Medicare payments in the last year of life. Health Serv Res. 2010 Apr;45(2):565-76. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2010.01082.x. Epub 2010 Feb 9.
Schenker Y, Tiver GA, Hong SY, White DB Association between physicians' beliefs and the option of comfort care for critically ill patients. Intensive Care Med. 2012 Oct;38(10):1607-15. Epub 2012 Aug 11.
Schenker Y, Tiver GA, Hong SY, White DB Discussion of treatment trials in intensive care. J Crit Care. 2013 Oct;28(5):862-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2013.04.015. Epub 2013 Jun 13.
Sudore RL, Fried TR Redefining the "planning" in advance care planning: preparing for end-of-life decision making. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Aug 17;153(4):256-61. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-153-4-201008170-00008.
Wendler D, Rid A Systematic review: the effect on surrogates of making treatment decisions for others. Ann Intern Med. 2011 Mar 1;154(5):336-46. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-154-5-201103010-00008. Review.
White DB, Braddock CH 3rd, Bereknyei S, Curtis JR Toward shared decision making at the end of life in intensive care units: opportunities for improvement. Arch Intern Med. 2007 Mar 12;167(5):461-7.
Interventional studies are often prospective and are specifically tailored to evaluate direct impacts of treatment or preventive measures on disease.
Observational studies are often retrospective and are used to assess potential causation in exposure-outcome relationships and therefore influence preventive methods.
Expanded access is a means by which manufacturers make investigational new drugs available, under certain circumstances, to treat a patient(s) with a serious disease or condition who cannot participate in a controlled clinical trial.
Clinical trials are conducted in a series of steps, called phases - each phase is designed to answer a separate research question.
Phase 1: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase 2: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase 3: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase 4: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.