About Reports

IOM reports provide objective and straightforward advice to decision makers and the public. This site includes IOM reports published after 1998. All reports from the IOM and the National Academies, including those published before 1998, are available from the National Academies Press.

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  Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life Released: June 20, 2003

  Approaching Death reflects a wide-ranging effort to understand what we know about care at the end of life, what we have yet to learn, and what we know but do not adequately apply. It seeks to build understanding of what constitutes good care for the dying and offers recommendations to decisionmakers that address specific barriers to achieving good care.
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  Describing Death in America: What We Need to Know Released: April 7, 2003

  This report recommends ways to fill the information gaps by better use of existing nationally-representative data, and through some new measures, in particular, a new, ongoing National Mortality Followback Survey.
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  When Children Die: Improving Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Children and Their Families Released: January 9, 2003

  Although dying is a part of life, a child's death, in a very real sense, is unnatural and has a devastating and enduring impact. Over 50,000 children die each year. This report builds on two earlier IOM reports - Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life (1997) and Improving Palliative Care for Cancer (2001). It continues their arguments that medical and other support for people with fatal or potentially fatal conditions often falls short of what is reasonably if not simply attainable.