Quality and safety in the literature: September 2020

Healthcare quality and safety span multiple topics across the spectrum of academic and clinical disciplines. Keeping abreast of the rapidly growing body of work can be challenging. In this series, we provide succinct summaries of selected relevant studies published in the last several months. Some articles will focus on a particular theme, while others will highlight unique publications from high-impact medical journals. ### Key points JAMA . 16 Feb 2020. Provision of care that honours a patient’s values, goals and wishes is the foundation of medicine. Goals of care conversations offer patients with chronic or life-limiting illness an opportunity to outline their wishes and expectations for medical care. It has been 30 years since the passage of the United States Patient Self Determination Act, which requires hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospice programmes and health maintenance organisations to inform patients of their rights to make decisions regarding their medical care, periodically …