Practical guidelines in family conference in palliative care: an integrative review.
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Introduction: The family conference (FC) in palliative care (PC) aims to adopt a holistic and communicative approach, seeking to provide information, validate its understanding, and achieve a comprehensive understanding of family dynamics. Given the importance of the family as essential support for the patient in advanced, incurable, and progressive stages of illness, the inherent challenges of this process demand accurate information, appropriate responses, and shared decision-making. Objectives: This study aims to identify recommendations on the essential capabilities of professionals who participate in family conferences, to identify CF schedules and objectives, and to identify and structure practical guidelines to support family conferences in palliative care. Methods: An integrative literature review was conducted in April 2024, covering the CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE Complete, and Scielo databases. Fifteen articles were selected for analysis, following predefined inclusion criteria, carried out by two independent reviewers. Results: The results made it possible to identify recommendations on the essential skills of professionals participating in FC, to identify indications and objectives of FC and to identify and structure practical guidelines to support family conferences in palliative care. Discussion of results: The results emphasised the importance of the intervention of an interdisciplinary team and the structured organisation of the process, including the development of the Individual and Integrated Care Plan (IICP). Conclusion: Excellence in the development of an IICP, grounded in trust, effective communication, and team availability, plays a crucial role in integrating the patient and family into a shared decision-making process. Family conferences, as an essential tool, enable a joint discussion of the care plan, actively involving both the patient and the family. Thus, high-quality care, centered on the individual and the family, is fundamental to the success of the process. The results highlight the relevance of FC as an essential practice in palliative care.
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