A decalogue for end-of-life care in internal medicine

Since a large number of patients with chronical medical diseases die in hospital, often in an internal medicine ward, internists are urged to improve their expertise in end-of-life (EOL) care, which is a neglected part of their academic education. Recently, FADOI (the Italian Federation of the Associations Hospital Doctors on Internal Medicine) has addressed EOL-medicine in many ways, promoting many scientific meetings on this and allied topics, providing educational material made available in its website on a free basis and establishing an ad hoc Committee charged with the task of organizing dedicated events annually. The Committee has also elaborated a series of recommendations on EOL-care in internal medicine (a decalogue), reflecting largely shared visions. It has been endorsed also by ANIMO (the Association of the Italian Nurses working in an Internal Medicine Department). The decalogue for EOL care in internal medicine is issued here, and calls for its diffusion and implementation. The driving concept is that doctors and nurses must feel responsible for disregarding appropriate EOL-care for the dying patients, because delaying it means to add suffering and discomfort to them in the final phase of their existence.