Escalation and Withdrawal of Treatment for Patients on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: A Qualitative Study

Language in Bioethics: Beyond the Representational View

Though assumptions about language underlie all bioethical work, the field has rarely partaken of theories of language. This article encourages a more linguistically engaged bioethics. We describe the tacit conception of language that is frequently upheld in bioethics-what we call the representational view, which sees language essentially as a means of description. We examine how this view has routed the field's theories and interventions down certain paths. We present an alternative model of language-the pragmatic view-and explore how it expands and clarifies traditional bioethical concerns. To lend concreteness, we apply the pragmatic view to a pervasive concept in bioethics and adjacent fields: decision making. We suggest that problems of the decision-making approach to bioethical issues are grounded in adherence to the representational view. Drawing on empirical work in surgery and critical care, we show how the pragmatic view productively reframes bioethical questions about how medical treatments are pursued.

The role of critical care nurses in shared decision-making for patients with severe heart failure: A qualitative study

AIM

Patients with severe heart failure undergo highly invasive and advanced therapies with uncertain treatment outcomes. For these patients, shared decision-making is necessary. To date, the nursing perspective of the decision-making process for patients facing difficulties and how nurses can support patients in this process have not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to clarify the perceptions of critical care nurses regarding situations with patients with severe heart failure that require difficult decision-making, and their role in supporting these patients.

METHODS

Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 certified nurse specialists in critical care nursing at nine hospitals in Japan. A qualitative inductive method was used and the derived relationships among the themes were visually structured and represented.

RESULTS

The nurses' perceptions on patients' difficult situations in decision-making were identified as follows: painful decisions under uncertainties; tense relationships; wavering emotions during decision-making; difficulties in coping with worsening medical conditions; patients' wishes that are difficult to realize or estimate; and difficulties in transitioning from advanced medical care. Critical care nurses' roles were summarized into six themes and performed collaboratively within the nursing team. Of these, the search for meaning and value was fundamental. Two positions underpin the role of critical care nurses. The first aims to provide direct support and includes partnerships and rights advocacy. The second aims to provide a holistic perspective to enable necessary adjustments, as indicated by situation assessments and mediation. By crossing various boundaries, co-creating, and forming a good circular relationship in the search for meaning and values, the possibility of expanding treatment and recuperation options may be considered.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with severe heart failure have difficulty participating in shared decision-making. Critical care nurses should collaborate within the nursing team to improve interprofessional shared decision-making by providing decisional support to patients that focuses on values and meaning.

Mapping the process of ICU care delivery to improve treatment decisions in acute respiratory failure

Evidence suggests system-level norms and care processes influence individual patients' medical decisions, including end-of-life decisions for patients with critical illnesses like acute respiratory failure. Yet, little is known about how these processes unfold over the course of a patient's critical illness in the intensive care unit (ICU). Our objective was to map current-state ICU care delivery processes for patients with acute respiratory failure and to identify opportunities to improve the process. We conducted a process mapping study at two academic medical centers, using focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The 70 participants represented 17 distinct roles in ICU care, including interprofessional medical ICU and palliative care clinicians, surrogate decision makers, and patient survivors. Participants refined and endorsed a process map of current-state care delivery for all patients admitted to the ICU with acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. The process contains four critical periods for active deliberation about the use of life-sustaining treatments. However, active deliberation steps are inconsistently performed and frequently disrupted, leading to prolongation of life-sustaining treatment by default, without consideration of patients' individual goals and priorities. Interventions to standardize active deliberation in the ICU may improve treatment decisions for ICU patients with acute respiratory failure.

Family members' perceptions of surrogate decision-making in the intensive care unit: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

A better understanding of the perceptions of family members in making surrogate decisions for loved ones during intensive care is needed to inform the development of targeted supportive interventions.

OBJECTIVE

To examine and synthesize qualitative data on family members' perceptions of surrogate decision-making in the intensive care unit.

DESIGN

We conducted a systematic review and qualitative data synthesis. Eligible studies contained family members' quotes about surrogate decision-making experiences and perceptions in adult intensive care units, published in English or Chinese, in a peer-reviewed journal up to February 2022. Data sources included Embase, PubMed, ISI Web of Science, PsychINFO, CINAHL, Biomedical Literature Service System, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, and VIP Journal.

METHODS

The searches yielded 5974 identified articles, of which 23 studies were included. At least two different reviewers independently assessed the study quality and extracted data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. A thematic synthesis was performed by classifying all text units into one of the broad themes and subsequently analyzed to inductively develop the first-, second-, and third-order themes. Six family members with experience in intensive care unit surrogate decision-making contributed to the analysis.

RESULTS

The qualitative data synthesis resulted in five major themes. The following key new insights into family members' perceptions of surrogate decision-making in the intensive care unit were obtained: in individual systems, family members suffered from emotional distress and psychological stress; different cognitive styles emerged; some family members reshaped a new order of life in the disruption; in family systems, the family as a whole was closely connected with each other; and in medical systems families perceived asymmetry in relationships with clinicians, many factors influencing trust, the necessity for role-specific mediators and issues with operations and environments not being sufficiently humanized.

CONCLUSION

This qualitative synthesis showed that individuals' emotions and cognition underwent complex processes during surrogate decision-making. The family as a whole, with disparate functional states, also faced different processes and outcomes under the crisis situation. At a broader level, the decision-making process reflected society's perceptions of the medical system. Future studies should use these insights to further explore and optimize the many aspects of surrogate decision support measures for families of critically ill patients and include the measurement of outcomes after interventions at multiple layers of the individual, family, and medical systems.

REGISTRATION NUMBER

The protocol was prospectively published on International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO)-CRD42022316687.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

Families of critically ill patients undergo a complex interactional process within the individual, family, and medical systems during surrogate decision-making.

The lived experience by patients and family members of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: A qualitative study

OBJECTIVE

To examine the lived experience of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) by patients and their families, and their relationship with intensive care clinicians.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six patients who had received ECMO and with four of their family members. The data were analysed narratively using a constant comparative method.

SETTING

Patients were treated at a major acute care hospital in British Columbia between 2014 and 2021. ECMO was used either as a bridge to recovery or to organ transplant. Four had family members bedside throughout, while two had virtual visits due to COVID-19 infection control measures.

FINDINGS

ECMO was experienced through a triad of relationships between the patient, key family members and key clinicians. The strength, directionality and focus of these relationships shifted during therapy and realigned once ECMO was removed. The largest shift involved family members. Post-ECMO, patients relied almost entirely on spouses, adult children and clinical team members to reconstruct their experience. The connection between families and clinical team members was limited and changed little.

CONCLUSIONS

The lived experience of ECMO was complex in ways yet to be comprehensively reported in the literature. This technology had particular impact on family members when ECMO was used as a bridge to transplant and where run times extended to multiple weeks. COVID-19 infection control restrictions further complicated how this technology was experienced. Findings from this study highlight the importance of intensive care nurses recognising the critical role family members play as witnesses whose experiences later allow patients to make sense of their journey post-discharge.