Health Literacy of Surrogates and Communication Issues in Palliative Care Conversations in Critical Care: An Integrative Review

[Health literacy: Definition, assessment tools, state of the art in Europe, health consequences and ways to improve it]

The term "littératie" is derived from the English word "literacy", which refers to knowledge and skills in the fields of reading, writing, speech (or other means of communication) and calculation that allow people to be efficient and integrated into society. Health literacy is a recent concept that relies on the ability to find, understand, evaluate and communicate information in ways that promote, maintain and improve the health of the individual in various settings over the course of life. The objectives of this review are first of all to realize an overview on the health literacy of populations in Europe. Then, we propose to study the link between health literacy and health status (risk behaviors, chronic diseases, morbi-mortality, adherence to care and medical monitoring) and to study its medico-economic impact. We also analyzed the association between personalized therapeutic education and health literacy. Finally, we propose a review of the means put in place in the care system to improve the health literacy of the patients we manage.

Palliative and end-of-life care practices for critically ill patients and their families in a peri-intensive care setting: A protocol for an umbrella review

OBJECTIVES

This umbrella review will summarize palliative and end-of-life care practices in peri-intensive care settings by reviewing systematic reviews in intensive care unit (ICU) settings. Evidence suggests that integrating palliative care into ICU management, initiating conversations about care goals, and providing psychological and emotional support can significantly enhance patient and family outcomes.

METHODS

The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for umbrella reviews will be followed. The search will be carried out from inception until 30 September 2023 in the following databases: Cochrane Library, SCOPUS, Web of Science, CINAHL Complete, Medline, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. Two reviewers will independently conduct screening, data extraction, and quality assessment, and to resolve conflicts, adding a third reviewer will facilitate the consensus-building process. The quality assessment will be carried out using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist. The review findings will be reported per the guidelines outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Overviews of Reviews statement.

RESULTS

This umbrella review seeks to inform future research and practice in critical care medicine, helping to ensure that end-of-life care interventions are optimized to meet the needs of critically ill patients and their families.