Abstract
[This is an excerpt.] Every day in clinical practice, health care clinicians make difficult decisions about appropriate treatment and care for their patients. Years of training prepare them for this responsibility, to choose the best course of action for a patient based on their clinical knowledge, the patient’s needs and wants, and the clinician’s professional and human values. Such daily decisions may be emotionally laden and are often made in challenging circumstances. There may be pressure from patients and families, burden from chronic understaffing, complicated organizational structures and hierarchies, system inefficiencies that shift attention away from patients, insurance or institutional policies that limit options, differences of opinion about appropriate care, and breakdowns in communication with interprofessional colleagues and administrators. These choices are often complex, and the best course of action may not be clear. [To read more, click View Resource.]
