[Ethics of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions]

Principio de proporcionalidad terapéutica en la decisión de intubación orotraqueal y ventilación mecánica invasiva en paciente COVID-19 grave

En medicina cuando se aplica el principio de proporcionalidad terapéutica se valoran los medios empleados y el fin previsible en cada paciente. Y se distingue entre tratamientos proporcionados o desproporcionados, valorando el beneficio y utilidad. Entre ellos su aplicación en el paciente COVID-19 grave que requiere intubación orotraqueal y ventilación mecánica invasiva. En ocasiones nos puede generar el dilema ético de proceder a realizar dicho procedimiento y no encontrar beneficio alguno, sino al contrario generar sufrimiento, dolor y prolongación de su posible agonía. Teniendo el deber ético en estos casos de no abandonar sino acompañar a través de los cuidados paliativos, siempre informando al familiar sobre la decisión que se tome. El analizar este principio de proporcionalidad terapéutica y su aplicación en las unidades de cuidado intensivo requiere de una conciencia moral por parte del grupo que tiene la responsabilidad de la toma de la decisiòn y dirimir el dilema ético que se presente. Recordando que a los pacientes que requieran intubación orotraqueal se les deben ofrecer todas las medidas requeridas en ventilación mecánica invasiva y no invasiva para mejoría de la hipoxemia.

Se presenta un análisis y reflexión sobre el principio de proporcionalidad terapéutica y su fundamentación ética al igual que una revisión sistemática de la literatura médica relacionada con pacientes con COVID-19 en insuficiencia respiratoria aguda. Y se establecen unas consideraciones científicas y éticas a tener en cuenta en el paciente COVID-19. El principio de proporcionalidad terapéutica ante la decisión de intubación orotraqueal debe fundamentarse en un juicio de proporcionalidad, que garantice que se han hecho y utilizado todos los medios previsibles para evitar la intubación orotraqueal y como único fin útil para beneficiar al paciente será la ventilación mecánica invasiva.

Spanish and Portuguese Societies of Internal Medicine consensus guideline about best practice in end-of-life care

AIM

To develop consensus recommendations about good clinical practice rules for caring end-of-life patients.

METHODS

A steering committee of 12 Spanish and Portuguese experts proposed 37 recommendations. A two rounds Delphi method was performed, with participation of 105 panelists including internists, other clinicians, nurses, patients, lawyers, bioethicians, health managers, politicians and journalists. We sent a questionnaire with 5 Likert-type answers for each recommendation. Strong consensus was defined when > 95% answers were completely agree or > 90% were agree or completely agree; and weak consensus when > 90% answers were completely agree or > 80% were agree or completely agree.

RESULTS

The panel addressed 7 specific areas for 37 recommendations spanning: identification of patients; knowledge of the disease, values and preferences of the patient; information; patient's needs; support and care; palliative sedation, and after death care.

CONCLUSIONS

The panel formulated and provided the rationale for recommendations on good clinical practice rules for caring end-of-life patients.

Spanish and Portuguese Societies of Internal Medicine consensus guideline about best practice in end-of-life care

AIM

To develop consensus recommendations about good clinical practice rules for caring end-of-life patients.

METHODS

A steering committee of 12 Spanish and Portuguese experts proposed 37 recommendations. A two rounds Delphi method was performed, with participation of 105 panelists including internists, other clinicians, nurses, patients, lawyers, bioethicians, health managers, politicians and journalists. We sent a questionnaire with 5 Likert-type answers for each recommendation. Strong consensus was defined when >95% answers were completely agree or >90% were agree or completely agree; and weak consensus when >90% answers were completely agree or >80% were agree or completely agree.

RESULTS

The panel addressed 7 specific areas for 37 recommendations spanning: identification of patients; knowledge of the disease, values and preferences of the patient; information; patient's needs; support and care; palliative sedation, and after death care.

CONCLUSIONS

The panel formulated and provided the rationale for recommendations on good clinical practice rules for caring end-of-life patients.

The advocacy role of nurses in cardiopulmonary resuscitation

BACKGROUND

The decision whether to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation may sometimes be ethically complex. While studies have addressed some of these issues, along with the role of nurses in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, most have not considered the importance of nurses acting as advocates for their patients with respect to cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

To explore what the nurse's advocacy role is in cardiopulmonary resuscitation from the perspective of patients, relatives, and health professionals in the Basque Country (Spain).

RESEARCH DESIGN

An exploratory critical qualitative study was conducted from October 2015 to March 2016. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

PARTICIPANTS

Four discussion groups were held: one with patients and relatives (n = 8), two with nurses (n = 7 and n = 6, respectively), and one with physicians (n = 5).

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Approval was obtained from the Basque Country Clinical Research Ethics Committee.

FINDINGS

Three significant themes were identified: (a) accompanying patients during end of life in a context of medical dominance, (b) maintaining the pact of silence, and (c) yielding to legal uncertainty and concerns.

DISCUSSION

The values and beliefs of the actors involved, as well as pre-established social and institutional rules reduced nurses' advocacy to that of intermediaries between the physician and the family within the hospital environment. On the contrary, in primary health care, nurses participated more actively within the interdisciplinary team.

CONCLUSION

This study provides key information for the improvement and empowerment for ethical nursing practice in a cardiac arrest, and provides the perspective of patients and relatives, nurses and physicians.

Nursing knowledge of and attitude in cardiopulmonary arrest: cross-sectional survey analysis

Background

Nurses are often the first to activate the chain of survival when a cardiorespiratory arrest happens. That is why it is crucial that they keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date and their attitudes to resuscitation are very important. The main aim of this study was to analyse whether the level of theoretical and practical understanding affected the attitudes of nursing staff.

Methods

A questionnaire was designed using the Delphi technique (three rounds). The questionnaire was adjusted and it was piloted on a test-retest basis with a convenience sample of 30 registered nurses. The psychometric characteristics were evaluated using a sample of 347 nurses using Cronbach’s alpha. Descriptive analysis was performed to describe the sociodemographic variables and Spearman’s correlation coefficient to assess the relationship between two scale variables. Pearson’s chi-squared test has been used to study the relationship between two categorical variables. Wilcoxon Mann Whitney test and the Kruskal–Wallis test were performed to establish relationships between the demographic/work related characteristics and the level of understanding.

Results

The Knowledge and Attitude of Nurses in the Event of a Cardiorespiratory Arrest (CAEPCR) questionnaire comprised three sections: sociodemographic information, theoretical and practical understanding, and attitudes of ethical issues. Cronbach’s alpha for the internal consistency of the attitudes questionnaire was 0.621. The knowledge that nurses self-reported with regard to cardiopulmonary arrest directly affected their attitudes. Their responses raised a number of bioethical issues.

Conclusions

CAEPCR questionnaire is the first one which successfully linked knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the attitudes towards ethical issues Health policies should ensure that CPR training is mandatory for nurses and all healthcare workers, and this training should include the ethical aspects.

Limitation of life support techniques at admission to the intensive care unit: a multicenter prospective cohort study

Purpose

To determine the frequency of limitations on life support techniques (LLSTs) on admission to intensive care units (ICU), factors associated, and 30-day survival in patients with LLST on ICU admission.

Methods

This prospective observational study included all patients admitted to 39 ICUs in a 45-day period in 2011. We recorded hospitals’ characteristics (availability of intermediate care units, usual availability of ICU beds, and financial model) and patients’ characteristics (demographics, reason for admission, functional status, risk of death, and LLST on ICU admission (withholding/withdrawing; specific techniques affected)). The primary outcome was 30-day survival for patients with LLST on ICU admission. Statistical analysis included multilevel logistic regression models.

Results

We recruited 3042 patients (age 62.5 ± 16.1 years). Most ICUs (94.8%) admitted patients with LLST, but only 238 (7.8% [95% CI 7.0–8.8]) patients had LLST on ICU admission; this group had higher ICU mortality (44.5 vs. 9.4% in patients without LLST; p < 0.001). Multilevel logistic regression showed a contextual effect of the hospital in LLST on ICU admission (median OR = 2.30 [95% CI 1.59–2.96]) and identified the following patient-related variables as independent factors associated with LLST on ICU admission: age, reason for admission, risk of death, and functional status. In patients with LLST on ICU admission, 30-day survival was 38% (95% CI 31.7–44.5). Factors associated with survival were age, reason for admission, risk of death, and number of reasons for LLST on ICU admission.

Conclusions

The frequency of ICU admission with LLST is low but probably increasing; nearly one third of these patients survive for ≥ 30 days.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s40560-018-0283-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The opinion of health professionals regarding the presence of relatives during cardiopulmonary resucitation

BACKGROUND

The latest recommendations from the American Heart Association and the European Resuscitation Council invite allowance for the presence of relatives (PR) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as an extra measure of family care.

OBJECTIVE

To discover the opinion of health professionals on the PR during CPR.

METHOD

Cross-sectional observational study through an online survey in Spain, based on a non-probability sample (n=315).

RESULTS

45% consider that the PR during CPR is not demanded by users. 64% value the implementation of this practice in a negative or a very negative way. 45% believe that the practice would avoid the feeling of abandonment that is instilled in the relatives, this being the most widely perceived potential benefit. 30% do not believe that it can help reduce the anxiety of relatives. The majority remarked that PR would cause situations of violence, psychological harm in witnesses, and more mistakes during care. 48% feel prepared to perform the role of companion.

CONCLUSIONS

Most professionals perceive more risks than benefits, and are not in favour of allowing PR due to a paternalistic attitude, and fear of the reactions that could be presented to the team. Extra-hospital emergency personnel seems to be the group most open to allowing this practice. Most professionals do not feel fully prepared to perform the role of companion.

Levels of exposure to ethical conflict in the ICU: Correlation between sociodemographic variables and the clinical environment

OBJECTIVES

To analyse the level of exposure of nurses to ethical conflict and determine the relationship between this exposure, sociodemographic variables and perceptions of the clinical environment.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Prospective and descriptive correlational study conducted at 10 intensive care units in two tertiary hospitals affiliated to the University of Barcelona. Sociodemographic and professional data were recorded from a questionnaire and then the previously validated Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire-Critical Care Version was administered to obtain data regarding experiences of ethical conflict.

RESULTS

Two hundred and three nurses (68.6%) participated in the study, of whom only 11.8% had training in bioethics. Exposure to ethical conflict was moderate with a x¯=182.35 (SD=71.304; [0-389]). The realisation that analgesia is ineffective and the administration of treatment without having participated in the decision-making process were the most frequently reported ethical conflicts. Professionals who perceived their environment as supportive for dealing with ethical conflicts reported lower levels of these events (p=0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Ethical conflict is an internal problem but it is strongly influenced by certain variables and environmental conditions. The involvement of nurses in the decision-making processes regarding the care of critically ill patients emerges as a factor that protects against ethical conflicts.