Palliative care beyond cancer tops poll on potential for doctors' impact

Doctors can make the biggest difference in bringing lessons learned from palliative care in cancer to other fatal conditions, according to a prominent scientific journal's poll.

Last month the British Medical Journal asked its readers to choose one of six topics where they thought the most improvement in patient care could be made. Two authors had written about each one, including Dr. Jerry Avorn and Dr. William Shrank of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He discussed avoiding medication problems in older people.

More than 4,000 readers responded with these choices:

Palliative care for all at the end of life: 38 percent
Combating drug-resistant infections in the developing world: 22 percent
Better care for the elderly with multiple health problems: 17
Improving chronic pain management: 12 percent
Reducing excessive drinking in young women: 8 percent
Helping to reduce adverse drug reactions in the elderly: 3 percent