Classification of Documented Goals of Care Among Hospitalized Patients with High Mortality Risk: a Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study

The ability to classify patients’ goals of care (GOC) from clinical documentation would facilitate serious illness communication quality improvement efforts and pragmatic measurement of goal-concordant care. Feasibility of this approach remains unknown. To evaluate the feasibility of classifying patients’ GOC from clinical documentation in the electronic health record (EHR), describe the frequency and patterns of changes in patients’ goals over time, and identify barriers to reliable goal classification. Retrospective, mixed-methods chart review study. Adults with high (50–74