Improving the experience of dying

In their February editorial, the PLoS Medicine Editors reflect on recent research by Olav Lindqvist and colleagues which describes nonpharmacological palliative care for cancer patients in the last days of life. The qualitative study found that the approaches used by palliative care staff were multifaceted, with physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and existential care interwoven in caregiving activities. The Editors comment: "[Lindqvist and colleagues' findings] reveal the complex and sometimes subtle caregiving approaches that palliative care staff take to improve the experience of dying for both patient and family…Research such as this not only provides hope that it is possible to have a good quality of death but also suggests that through research the experience of dying can be improved."

Funding: The authors are each paid a salary by the Public Library of Science, and they wrote this editorial during their salaried time.

Competing Interests: The authors' individual competing interests are at http://www.plosmedicine.org/static/editorsInterests.action. PLoS is funded partly through manuscript publication charges, but the PLoS Medicine Editors are paid a fixed salary (their salary is not linked to the number of papers published in the journal).

Citation: The PLoS Medicine Editors (2012) Beyond the Numbers: Describing Care at the End of Life. PLoS Med 9(2): e1001181. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001181