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Gupta A, Burgess R, Drozd M, Gierula J, Witte K, Straw S. The Surprise Question and clinician-predicted prognosis: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Support Palliat Care 2024:spcare-2024-004879. [PMID: 38925876 DOI: 10.1136/spcare-2024-004879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2024] [Accepted: 06/02/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Surprise Question, 'Would you be surprised if this person died within the next year?' is a simple tool that can be used by clinicians to identify people within the last year of life. This review aimed to determine the accuracy of this assessment, across different healthcare settings, specialties, follow-up periods and respondents. METHODS Searches were conducted of Medline, Embase, AMED, PubMed and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, from inception until 01 January 2024. Studies were included if they reported original data on the ability of the Surprise Question to predict survival. For each study (including subgroups), sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy were determined. RESULTS Our dataset comprised 56 distinct cohorts, including 68 829 patients. In a pooled analysis, the sensitivity of the Surprise Question was 0.69 ((0.64 to 0.74) I2=97.2%), specificity 0.69 ((0.63 to 0.74) I2=99.7%), positive predictive value 0.40 ((0.35 to 0.45) I2=99.4%), negative predictive value 0.89 ((0.87 to 0.91) I2=99.7%) and accuracy 0.71 ((0.68 to 0.75) I2=99.3%). The prompt performed best in populations with high event rates, shorter timeframes and when posed to more experienced respondents. CONCLUSIONS The Surprise Question demonstrated modest accuracy with considerable heterogeneity across the population to which it was applied and to whom it was posed. Prospective studies should test whether the prompt can facilitate timely access to palliative care services, as originally envisioned. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER CRD32022298236.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ankit Gupta
- Leeds Institute of Medical Education, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | | | - Michael Drozd
- Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - John Gierula
- Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Klaus Witte
- Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Sam Straw
- Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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De Raedt S, De Groote M, Martens H, Velghe A, Van Den Noortgate N, Piers R. Will-to-Live and Self-Rated Health in Older Hospitalized Patients Are Not Predictive for Short-Term Mortality. J Palliat Med 2024; 27:376-382. [PMID: 37948556 DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2023.0326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Self-assessed will-to-live and self-rated health are associated with long-term survival in community-dwelling older persons but have not been examined in frailer older patients in relation to short-term prognosis. The aim was to explore whether will-to-live and self-rated health are predictive for six-month mortality and can guide ceiling of treatment decisions in hospitalized patients in an acute geriatric ward. We included the Surprise Question as reference, being a well-established clinical tool for short-term prognostication. Methods: This multicentric prospective study included patients of 75 years and older admitted at acute geriatric wards of two Belgian hospitals. Will-to-live and self-rated health were scored on a Likert scale (0-5, 0-4) and assessed by junior geriatricians. The senior geriatricians answered the Surprise Question for clinical judgment of prognosis. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to determine diagnostic accuracy. For time-dependent analysis, Cox regression was performed with adjustment for age and gender. Results: Of 93 included patients in the study, 69 were still alive after six months and 24 died, resulting in a six-month mortality of 26%. The mean age was 86 years (range 75-100), 67% of the patients were women. Median will-to-live and self-rated health were 3 (moderate and good). Both will-to-live and self-rated health were not predictive for six-month mortality (area under the ROC curve [AUC] 0.496, p = 0.951 for will-to-live; 0.447, p = 0.442 for self-rated health) as opposed to Surprise Question (AUC 0.793, p < 0.001). After correction for sex and age, the hazard ratio of six-month mortality was 0.92 for will-to-live (p = 0.667), 0.86 for self-rated health (p = 0.548), and 10.28 for Surprise Question (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Will-to-live and self-rated health are not predictive for six-month mortality in patients admitted to the acute geriatric ward, unlike prognostic tools such as Surprise Question. Clinical Trial Registration Number: B670202100792.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soetkin De Raedt
- Department of Geriatrics, University Hospital Gent, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marie De Groote
- Department of Geriatrics, University Hospital Gent, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Han Martens
- Department of Geriatrics, General Hospital Sint-Lucas, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Anja Velghe
- Department of Geriatrics, University Hospital Gent, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Ruth Piers
- Department of Geriatrics, University Hospital Gent, Ghent, Belgium
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Iozzo P, Spina N, Cannizzaro G, Gambino V, Patinella A, Bambi S, Vellone E, Alvaro R, Latina R. Association between Boarding of Frail Individuals in the Emergency Department and Mortality: A Systematic Review. J Clin Med 2024; 13:1269. [PMID: 38592117 PMCID: PMC10932317 DOI: 10.3390/jcm13051269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2024] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024] Open
Abstract
(1) Background: Older patients who attend emergency departments are frailer than younger patients and are at a high risk of adverse outcomes; (2) Methods: To conduct this systematic review, we adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Guidelines. We systematically searched literature from PubMed, Embase, OVID Medline®, Scopus, CINAHL via EBSCOHost, and the Cochrane Library up to May 2023, while for grey literature we used Google Scholar. No time restrictions were applied, and only articles published in English were included. Two independent reviewers assessed the eligibility of the studies and extracted relevant data from the articles that met our predefined inclusion criteria. The Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) was used to assess the quality of the studies; (3) Results: Evidence indicates that prolonged boarding of frail individuals in crowded emergency departments (Eds) is associated with adverse outcomes, exacerbation of pre-existing conditions, and increased mortality risk; (4) Conclusions: Our results suggest that frail individuals are at risk of longer ED stays and higher mortality rates. However, the association between the mortality of frail patients and the amount of time a patient spends in exposure to the ED environment has not been fully explored. Further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pasquale Iozzo
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via Montpellier, 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; (E.V.); (R.A.)
| | - Noemi Spina
- Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Department, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico “Paolo Giaccone”, Via del Vespro, 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy; (N.S.); (G.C.); (V.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Giovanna Cannizzaro
- Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Department, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico “Paolo Giaccone”, Via del Vespro, 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy; (N.S.); (G.C.); (V.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Valentina Gambino
- Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Department, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico “Paolo Giaccone”, Via del Vespro, 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy; (N.S.); (G.C.); (V.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Agostina Patinella
- Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Department, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico “Paolo Giaccone”, Via del Vespro, 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy; (N.S.); (G.C.); (V.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Stefano Bambi
- Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Viale GB Morgagni, 48, 50134 Florence, Italy;
| | - Ercole Vellone
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via Montpellier, 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; (E.V.); (R.A.)
- Department of Nursing and Obstetrics, Wroclaw Medical University, 51-618 Wrocław, Poland
| | - Rosaria Alvaro
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via Montpellier, 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; (E.V.); (R.A.)
| | - Roberto Latina
- Department of Health Promotion Science, Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine, and Medical Specialities (PROMISE), University of Palermo, Piazza delle Cliniche, 2, 90127 Palermo, Italy;
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Ribeiro SCC, Arantes Lopes TA, Costa JVG, Rodrigues CG, Maia IWA, Soler LDM, Marchini JFM, Neto RAB, Souza HP, Alencar JCG. The Physician Surprise Question in the Emergency Department: prospective cohort study. BMJ Support Palliat Care 2024:spcare-2024-004797. [PMID: 38316516 DOI: 10.1136/spcare-2024-004797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES This study aims to test the ability of the surprise question (SQ), when asked to emergency physicians (EPs), to predict in-hospital mortality among adults admitted to an emergency room (ER). METHODS This prospective cohort study at an academic medical centre included consecutive patients 18 years or older who received care in the ER and were subsequently admitted to the hospital from 20 April 2018 to 20 October 2018. EPs were required to answer the SQ for all patients who were being admitted to hospital. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. RESULTS The cohort included 725 adults (mean (SD) age, 60 (17) years, 51% men) from 58 128 emergency department (ED) visits. The mortality rates were 20.6% for 30-day all-cause in-hospital mortality and 23.6% for in-hospital mortality. The diagnostic test characteristics of the SQ have a sensitivity of 53.7% and specificity of 87.1%, and a relative risk of 4.02 (95% CI 3.15 to 5.13), p<0.01). The positive and negative predictive values were 57% and 86%, respectively; the positive likelihood ratio was 4.1 and negative likelihood ratio was 0.53; and the accuracy was 79.2%. CONCLUSIONS We found that asking the SQ to EPs may be a useful tool to identify patients in the ED with a high risk of in-hospital mortality.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jose Victor Gomes Costa
- Disciplina de Emergências Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Caio Godoy Rodrigues
- Disciplina de Emergências Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Ian Ward Abdalla Maia
- Disciplina de Emergências Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Lucas de Moraes Soler
- Disciplina de Emergências Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | | | - Heraldo Possolo Souza
- Disciplina de Emergências Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Júlio César Garcia Alencar
- Disciplina de Emergências Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- Universidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, Bauru, Brazil
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Kirkland SW, Yang EH, Garrido Clua M, Kruhlak M, Campbell S, Villa-Roel C, Rowe BH. Screening tools to identify patients with unmet palliative care needs in the emergency department: A systematic review. Acad Emerg Med 2022; 29:1229-1246. [PMID: 35344239 DOI: 10.1111/acem.14492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2021] [Revised: 03/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES This systematic review identified and assessed psychometric properties of the available screening tools to identify patients with unmet palliative care (PC) needs in the emergency department (ED). METHODS A comprehensive search of electronic databases and the gray literature was conducted. Two independent reviewers completed study screening and inclusion, data extraction, and quality assessment. A descriptive summary of the results was reported using median of medians and interquartile ranges (IQRs). RESULTS A total of 35 studies were included, involving the assessment of 14 unique screening tools. The most commonly used screening tool was the surprise question (SQ; n = 12 studies), followed by the Palliative Care and Rapid Emergency Screening (P-CaRES) tool (n = 8), and the screening for palliative and end-of-life care needs in the emergency department (SPEED) instrument (n = 4). Twelve of the included studies reported on the psychometric properties of the screening tools, of which eight of these studies assessed the performance of the SQ to predict patient mortality. Overall, the median sensitivity (63%, IQR 38%-78%) and specificity (75%, IQR 57%-84%) of the SQ to predict mortality at 1 or 12 months was moderate. While the median positive predictive value of the SQ was low (32%, IQR 16%-40%), the median negative predictive value was high (91%, IQR 88%-95%). Across the studies, the proportion of patients identified as having unmet PC based on the criteria of the screening tools ranged from 5% to 83%. CONCLUSIONS This review identified 14 unique screening tools used to identify adult patients with unmet PC needs in the ED. One screening tool, the SQ, was found to have moderate sensitivity and specificity to accurately predict future patient mortality. Additional research is needed to better understand the clinical value of this and the other available tools prior to their widespread implementation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott W Kirkland
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Esther H Yang
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Miriam Garrido Clua
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Maureen Kruhlak
- School of Veterinary Medicine, St. George's University, West Indies, Grenada
| | - Sandra Campbell
- J.W. Scott Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Cristina Villa-Roel
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Brian H Rowe
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.,School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Green L. Research Roundup. Int J Palliat Nurs 2022; 28:2-3. [PMID: 35452266 DOI: 10.12968/ijpn.2022.28.3.145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Synopses of a selection of recently published research articles of relevance to palliative care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Green
- Lecturer in Nursing, University of Manchester, UK
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