When we or those we love face serious, life-threatening illness, we have to make many personal and medical decisions that can be frightening, difficult, and confusing. Compassionate and clear conversation is the key to easing confusion & fear, and ensuring that decisions about care reflect what matters most to patients.

We know that individuals who have conversations with their clinicians about their values, goals, and wishes are more likely to receive the care they want, feel less distress, and report better quality of life. However, only a third of patients in the last year of life report having these conversations and, often, they happen too late in the course of illness to fulfill their most important wishes. The Serious Illness Care Program was created by a team of palliative care experts at Ariadne Labs to address these challenges. At the center of the program is the Serious Illness Conversation Guide, which offers clinicians language to ask patients about their goals, values, and wishes. The guide is one element of a multi-component program creating system-level support for clinicians to have these important conversations with their patients.