• R García Caballero, D Real de Asúa, L García Olmos, and B Herreros.
• Grupo de Trabajo de Bioética, Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna; Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario Infanta Sofía, San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid), España; Instituto de Ética Clínica Francisco Vallés, Universidad Europea, Madrid, España. Electronic address: rebecagarciacaballero@gmail.com.
• Rev Clin Esp. 2021 May 1; 221 (5): 274278274-278.

ObjectivesTo ascertain whether internists know what limitation of therapeutic effort (LTE) means and whether training in palliative care affects this understanding.MethodsA survey was administered to Spanish internists on their knowledge of LTE and training in palliative care.ResultsA total of 273 respondents completed the survey (mean age, 42±12 years), 80.2% of whom were associates. Some 23.8% of the respondents identified the complete definition of LTE. The most frecuently selected responses were «not starting an active treatment»(85.0%) and «withdrawing an active treatment» (65.9%). Forty-three percent of the respondents lacked training in palliative care, 73.3% considered their level of understanding to be good or very good, 62.3% stated that they became anxious when addressing planning for end-of-life care with a patient, and 81.3% stated that they had experienced some conflict with their LTE decisions.ConclusionsOnly 1 of every 4 internists knew the proper definition of LTE, with no association with level of training in palliative care.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI). All rights reserved.

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