Outcomes and associated ethical considerations of long-run pediatric ECMO at a single center institution

Formal Ethics Consultation in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Patients: A Single-Center Retrospective Cohort of a Quaternary Pediatric Hospital

OBJECTIVE

To examine characteristics associated with formal ethics consultation (EC) referral in pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) cases, and document ethical issues presented.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study using mixed methods.

SETTING

Single-center quaternary pediatric hospital.

PATIENTS

Patients supported on ECMO (January 2012 to December 2021).

INTERVENTIONS

We compared clinical variables among ECMO patients according to the presence of EC. We defined optimal cutoffs for EC based on run duration, ICU length of stay (LOS), and sum of procedures or complications. To identify independent explanatory variables for EC, we used a forward stepwise selection multivariable logistic regression model. EC records were thematically characterized into ethical issues.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Of 601 ECMO patients and 225 patients with EC in 10 years, 27 ECMO patients received EC (4.5% of ECMO patients, 12% of all ECs). On univariate analysis, use of EC vs. not was associated with multiple ECMO runs, more complications/procedures, longer ICU LOS and ECMO duration, cardiac admissions, decannulation outcome, and higher mortality. Cutoffs for EC were ICU LOS >52 days, run duration >160 hours, and >6 complications/procedures. Independent associations with EC included these three cutoffs and older age. The model showed good discrimination (area under the curve 0.88 [0.83, 0.93]) and fit. The most common primary ethical issues were related to end-of-life, ECMO discontinuation, and treatment decision-making. Moral distress was cited in 22 of 27 cases (82%).

CONCLUSION

EC was used in 4.5% of our pediatric ECMO cases, with most ethical issues related to end-of-life care or ECMO discontinuation. Older age, longer ICU LOS, prolonged runs, and multiple procedures/complications were associated with greater odds for EC requests. These data highlight our single-center experience of ECMO-associated ethical dilemmas. Historical referral patterns may guide a supported decision-making framework. Future work will need to include quality improvement projects for timely EC, with evaluation of impacts on relevant endpoints.

Between hope and disillusionment: ECMO seen through the lens of nurses working in a neonatal and paediatric intensive care unit

BACKGROUND

Using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in paediatric and neonatal intensive care units (PICU/NICU) creates ethical challenges and carries a high risk for moral distress, burn out and team conflicts.

AIM

The study aimed to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying factors affecting moral distress when using ECMO for infants and children by examining the attitudes of ECMO nurses.

METHODS

Four focus groups discussions were conducted with 21 critical care nurses working in a Swiss University Children's Hospital. Purposive sampling was adopted to identify research participants. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Unlike "miracle machine" stories in online media reports, specialized nurses working in PICU/NICU expressed both their hopes and fears towards this technology. Their accounts also contained references to events and factors that triggered experiences of moral distress: the unspeakable nature of the death of a child or infant; the seemingly lack of honest and transparent communication with parents; the apparent loss of situational awareness among doctors; the perceived lack of recognition for the role of nurses and the variability in end-of-life decision-making; the length of time it takes doctors to take important treatment decisions; and the resource intensity of an ECMO treatment.

CONCLUSION

The creation of a multidisciplinary moral community with transparent information among all involved health care professionals and the definition of clear treatment goals as well as the implementation of paediatric palliative care for all paediatric ECMO patients should become a priority if we want to alleviate situations of moral distress.

RELEVANCE FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE

The creation of a multidisciplinary moral community, clear treatment goals and the implementation of palliative care for all paediatric ECMO patients are crucial to alleviate situations of moral distress for nurses, and thus to improve provider well-being and the quality of patient care in PICU/NICU.

Does the standard medical procedure consent process meet the criteria required for informed consent? - A concept analysis

BACKGROUND

Informed consent is a complex process that is legally required before any surgical procedure.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this manuscript was to perform a concept analysis of the informed consent process.

METHODS

The use of dimensional analysis identified three separate yet related perspectives of the informed consent process: legal, health care, and patients. A database search using the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and PubMed were performed.

FINDINGS

A total of 27 publications were reviewed. The legal perspective addresses the requirement of informed consent, which starts with the discussion between the health care provider and the patient undergoing the surgical procedure and ends with a signature on a piece of paper. The health care perspective also addresses the legal requirement but incorporates the goals and objectives of the individual initiating the informed consent discussion. The patients' perspectives also incorporate goals and objectives; however, they differ from that of the health care provider in that they go beyond what happens in the operating room or during hospitalization.

DISCUSSION

Viewing informed consent through these different yet related perspectives provides insight into this complex process and may enhance the researcher's ability to understand and improve the informed consent process.

Supporting and Contextualizing Pediatric ECMO Decision-Making Using a Person-Centered Framework

AbstractThere is a critical need to establish a space to engage in careful deliberation amid exciting, important, necessary, and groundbreaking technological and clinical advances in pediatric medicine. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is one such technology that began in pediatric settings nearly 50 years ago. And while not void of medical and ethical examination, both the symbolic progression of medicine that ECMO embodies and its multidimensional challenges to patient care require more than an intellectual exercise. What we illustrate, then, is a person-centered framework that incorporates the philosophy and practice of palliative care and care-based ethical approaches. This person-centered framework is valuable for identifying and understanding challenges central to ECMO, guides collaborative decision-making, and recognizes the value of relationships within and between patients, families, healthcare teams, and others who impact and are impacted by ECMO. Specifically, this person-centered approach enables caregivers to provide compassionate and effective support in critical, and often urgent, situations where conflicts may emerge among healthcare team members, families, and other decision makers. By reflecting on three cases based on actual situations, we apply our person-centered framework and identify those aspects that were utilized in and informed this project. We aim to fill a current gap in the pediatric ECMO literature by presenting a person-centered framework that promotes caregiving relationships among hospitalized critically ill children, families, and the healthcare team and is supported through the philosophy and practice of palliative care and clinical ethics.

Decision-Making, Ethics, and End-of-Life Care in Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: A Comprehensive Narrative Review

OBJECTIVES

Pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. We sought to summarize literature on communication and decision-making, end-of-life care, and ethical issues to identify recommended approaches and highlight knowledge gaps.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library.

STUDY SELECTION

We reviewed published articles (1972-2020) which examined three pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation domains: 1) decision-making or communication between clinicians and patients/families, 2) ethical issues, or 3) end-of-life care.

DATA EXTRACTION

Two reviewers independently assessed eligibility using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Of 2,581 publications screened, we identified one systematic review and 35 descriptive studies. No practical guides exist for communication and decision-making in pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Conversation principles and parent/clinician perspectives are described. Ethical issues related to consent, initiation, discontinuation, resource allocation, and research. No patient-level synthesis of ethical issues or end-of-life care in pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was identified.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite numerous ethical issues reported surrounding pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, we found limited patient-level research and no practical guides for communicating with families or managing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation discontinuation.

Nomogram to predict survival outcome of patients with veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation after refractory cardiogenic shock

Objective: This study aims to develop a nomogram model to predict the survival of refractory cardiogenic shock (RCS) patients that received veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO).Methods: A total of 235 and 209 RCS patients were supported with VA-ECMO from January 2018 to December 2019 in Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, and from January 2020 to December 2020 in four third-grade and class-A hospitals were a development cohort (DC) and validation cohort (VC), respectively. Finally, 137 and 98 patients were included in the DC and VC. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify variables, and only these independent risk factors were used to establish the nomogram model. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), calibration plot, decision curve, and clinical impact curves were used to evaluate the nomogram's discriminative ability, predictive accuracy, and clinical application value.Results: Pre-ECMO cardiogenic arrest (pre-ECA), lactate (Lac), inotropic score (IS), and modified nutrition risk in the critically ill score (mNUTRIC score) were incorporated into the nomogram. This showed good discrimination in the DC, with an area under ROC (AUROC) and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.959 (0.911-0.986). The AUROC (95% CI) of the VC was 0.928 (0.858-0.971). The calibration plots of the DC and VC presented good calibration results. The decision curve and clinical impact curve of the nomogram provided improved benefits for RCS patients.Conclusions: This study established a prediction nomogram composed of pre-ECA, Lac, IS, and mNUTRIC scores that could help clinicians to predict the survival probability at hospital discharge precisely and rapidly for RCS patients that received VA-ECMO.

Mortality trends in neonatal ECMO for pulmonary hypoplasia: A review of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization database from 1981 to 2016

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this review is to provide ECMO outcome data for medical personnel who counsel families of patients with pulmonary hypoplasia (PH), often secondary to renal abnormalities. We report diagnoses and outcomes associated with PH in neonates that were treated with ECMO over the past 35 years.

METHODS

Retrospective cohort study using the ELSO database for neonates born between 1981 and 2016 with a primary or secondary diagnosis of PH. Five patient groups were created based on ICD-9 codes. Mortality rates were compared and trends over time were investigated.

RESULTS

Thirty-three percent of the 1385 patients survived to discharge. Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) patients had significantly higher mortality than PH patients secondary to renal dysplasia (p < 0.001). Mortality decreased significantly over time for all groups (p < 0.001). The proportion of patients alive at discharge increased over time for CDH patients (p < 0.001), whereas survival decreased for patients with PH secondary to renal dysplasia (p = 0.012).

CONCLUSIONS

Neonates with PH that require ECMO have high mortality rates, which have generally decreased over the past 35 years; however, mortality for neonates with PH secondary to renal dysplasia continues to increase. We speculate that the apparent rise in mortality for these patients is because of changes in patient selection subsequent to improvements in non-ECMO ventilatory support.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

II.

Predictors of long ECMO runs for congenital diaphragmatic hernia

BACKGROUND

Although longer ECMO run times for patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) have been associated with worse outcomes, a large study has not been conducted to examine the risk factors for long ECMO runs.

METHODS

The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Registry from 2000 to 2015 was used to identify predictors of long ECMO runs in CDH patients. A long run was any duration of ≥14 days. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the association between demographics, pre-ECMO blood gas/ventilator settings, comorbid conditions, and therapies on long ECMO runs.

RESULTS

There were 4730 CDH-infants examined. The largest association with long ECMO runs was on-ECMO repair (OR: 3.72, 95% CI: 3.013-4.602, p < 0.001) and the use of THAM (OR: 1.463, 95% CI: 1.062-2.016, p = 0.02). Each drop in pH quartile was associated with an increased risk of long ECMO run: pH ≥ 7.3 (reference), pH 7.2-7.9 (OR 1.24, 95% CI: 0.98-1.57, p = 0.07), pH 7.08-7.19 (OR 1.46, 95% CI: 1.17-1.84, p = 0.001), pH ≤ 7.07 (OR 1.64, 95% CI: 1.29-2.07, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

We found a correlation between both pre-ECMO demographics/timing of repair and the subsequent risk of long ECMO runs, providing insight for both providers and parents about the risk factors for longer runs.

TYPE OF STUDY

Treatment Study.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level III.

Emerging issues in the ethical utilization of pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

As we have refined our extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) capabilities and enhanced our ability to care for children with illnesses previously deemed lethal, the patient populations for whom ECMO is a medically appropriate intervention have expanded. Such expansion has prompted consideration of evolving ethical issues. In this review, we highlight several of the emerging ethical issues in pediatric ECMO.

RECENT FINDINGS

Expansion of ECMO into increasingly diverse pediatric populations has prompted several ethical questions. First, some have found that there are specific clinical settings in which ECMO ought to be obligatory. Second, expanded use of ECMO may prompt disagreements among healthcare providers or between providers and family members regarding decisions about decannulation. Finally, analysis of the ethical challenges associated with integration of other disruptive healthcare modalities into patient care, will allow us insight into how to assure ethical expansion of pediatric ECMO.

SUMMARY

Expansion of pediatric ECMO highlights several ethical issues including whether ECMO is ever ethically obligatory, how to ethically decannulate a patient when survival is deemed unlikely, and how to guide expansion of pediatric ECMO based upon lessons learned from the implementation of other disruptive healthcare interventions into practice.

Neonatal respiratory extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and primary diagnosis: trends between two decades

OBJECTIVE

Examine changing neonatal respiratory extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) practice trends and outcomes.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study comparing neonatal respiratory ECMO in the 1990 and 2010 decades (1994-1995 and 2014-2015). Patients ≤ 30 days of life, reported to the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization registry, were included.

RESULTS

Four thousand one hundred and twenty-five patients met inclusion criteria. ECMO cases decreased by 33%. The primary ECMO diagnosis changed significantly over time (p < 0.0001). Survival to discharge decreased (76 vs 67%, p < 0.0001) and ECMO duration increased (131 vs 158 h, p < 0.001). Lung recovery was the most common reason to discontinue ECMO although family request for withdrawal and a diagnosis considered "incompatible with life" was increasingly common in the 2010s.

CONCLUSION

Although the use of ECMO for neonatal respiratory diagnoses has decreased over time, its use has increased for patients with more complex diagnoses and ECMO duration is longer. ECMO continues to be an important supportive therapy, improved understanding of which patients would benefit most is needed.