Outcome in patients perceived as receiving excessive care across different ethical climates: a prospective study in 68 intensive care units in Europe and the USA

Purpose: Whether the quality of the ethical climate in the intensive care unit (ICU) improves the identification of patients receiving excessive care and affects patient outcomes is unknown. Methods: In this prospective observational study, perceptions of excessive care (PECs) by clinicians working in 68 ICUs in Europe and the USA were collected daily during a 28-day period. The quality of the ethical climate in the ICUs was assessed via a validated questionnaire. We compared the combined endpoint (death, not at home or poor quality of life at 1 year) of patients with PECs and the time from PECs until written treatment-limitation decisions (TLDs) and death across the four climates defined via cluster analysis. Results: Of the 4747 eligible clinicians, 2992 (63%) evaluated the ethical climate in their ICU. Of the 321 and 623 patients not admitted for monitoring only in ICUs with a good (n = 12, 18%) and poor (n = 24, 35%) climate, 36 (11%) and 74 (12%), respectively were identified with PECs by at least two clinicians. Of the 35 and 71 identified patients with an available combined endpoint, 100% (95% CI 90.0–1.00) and 85.9% (75.4–92.0) (P = 0.02) attained that endpoint. The risk of death (HR 1.88, 95% CI 1.20–2.92) or receiving a written TLD (HR 2.32, CI 1.11–4.85) in patients with PECs by at least two clinicians was higher in ICUs with a good climate than in those with a poor one. The differences between ICUs with an average climate, with (n = 12, 18%) or without (n = 20, 29%) nursing involvement at the end of life, and ICUs with a poor climate were less obvious but still in favour of the former. Conclusion: Enhancing the quality of the ethical climate in the ICU may improve both the identification of patients receiving excessive care and the decision-making process at the end of life

Acute Respiratory Failure Outcomes in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies and Hematopoietic Cell Transplant: A Secondary Analysis of the EFRAIM Study

Item does not contain fulltextPatients with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) who develop acute respiratory failure (ARF) are perceived to have worse outcomes than autologous HCT recipients and non-transplant patients with hematologic malignancy (HM). Within a large international prospective cohort, we evaluated clinical outcomes in these 3 populations. We conducted a secondary analysis of the EFRAIM study, a multicenter observational study of immunocompromised adults with ARF admitted to 62 intensive care units (ICUs) in 16 countries. We described characteristics and compared outcomes of patients with HM who did not undergo transplantation and patients who underwent autologous or allogeneic HCT using multivariable logistic regression and propensity score-matched analyses. A total of 801 patients were included: 570 who did not undergo transplantation, 86 autologous HCT recipients and 145 allogeneic HCT recipients. Acute myelogenous leukemia (171 of 570; 30%) was the most common HM and most common indication for allogeneic HCT (76 of 145; 52%). Compared with the patients who did not undergo HCT and autologous HCT recipients, allogeneic HCT recipients were younger, had fewer comorbid conditions, and were more likely to undergo diagnostic bronchoscopy in the ICU. Unadjusted ICU and hospital mortality were 35% and 45%, respectively, across the entire cohort. In multivariable regression analysis, autologous HCT (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], .57 to 2.03; P = .82) and allogeneic HCT (OR, .99; 95% CI, .60 to 1.66; P = .98) were not associated with higher hospital mortality compared with the no-HCT cohort, adjusting for demographic, functional, clinical, malignancy, and ARF characteristics. The results were similar when analyzed using propensity score-matching techniques. Our findings indicate that autologous and allogeneic HCT recipients who develop ARF and require ICU admission have similar hospital mortality as patients with HM not treated with HCT

The Intensive Care Medicine research agenda on critically ill oncology and hematology patients

Contains fulltext : 182587.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Over the coming years, accelerating progress against cancer will be associated with an increased number of patients who require life-sustaining therapies for infectious or toxic chemotherapy-related events. Major changes include increased number of cancer patients admitted to the ICU with full-code status or for time-limited trials, increased survival and quality of life in ICU survivors, changing prognostic factors, early ICU admission for optimal monitoring, and use of noninvasive diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. In this review, experts in the management of critically ill cancer patients highlight recent changes in the use and the results of intensive care in patients with malignancies. They seek to put forward a standard of care for the management of these patients and highlight important updates that are required to care for them. The research agenda they suggest includes important studies to be conducted in the next few years to increase our understanding of organ dysfunction in this population and to improve our ability to appropriately use life-saving therapies or select new therapeutic approaches that are likely to improve outcomes. This review aims to provide more guidance for the daily management of patients with cancer, in whom outcomes are constantly improving, as is our global ability to fight against what is becoming the leading cause of mortality in industrialized and non-industrialized countries