Preferences for Mechanical Ventilation Among Survivors of Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation and Tracheostomy

COVID-19 Transmission to Health Care Personnel During Tracheostomy Under a Multidisciplinary Safety Protocol

BACKGROUND

Tracheostomies are highly aerosolizing procedures yet are often indicated in patients with COVID-19 who require prolonged intubation. Robust investigations of the safety of tracheostomy protocols and provider adherence and evaluations are limited.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the rate of COVID-19 infection of health care personnel involved in COVID-19 tracheostomies under a multidisciplinary safety protocol and to investigate health care personnel's attitudes and suggested areas for improvement concerning the protocol.

METHODS

All health care personnel involved in tracheostomies in COVID-19-positive patients from April 9 through July 11, 2020, were sent a 22-item electronic survey.

RESULTS

Among 107 health care personnel (80.5%) who responded to the survey, 5 reported a positive COVID-19 test result (n = 2) or symptoms of COVID-19 (n = 3) within 21 days of the tracheostomy. Respondents reported 100% adherence to use of adequate personal protective equipment. Most (91%) were familiar with the tracheostomy protocol and felt safe (92%) while performing tracheostomy. Suggested improvements included creating dedicated tracheostomy teams and increasing provider choices surrounding personal protective equipment.

CONCLUSIONS

Multidisciplinary engagement in the development and implementation of a COVID-19 tracheostomy protocol is associated with acceptable safety for all members of the care team.

Harming patients by provision of intensive care treatment: is it right to provide time-limited trials of intensive care to patients with a low chance of survival?

Time-limited trials of intensive care have arisen in response to the increasing demand for intensive care treatment for patients with a low chance of surviving their critical illness, and the clinical uncertainty inherent in intensive care decision-making. Intensive care treatment is reported by most patients to be a significantly unpleasant experience. Therefore, patients who do not survive intensive care treatment are exposed to a negative dying experience. Time-limited trials of intensive care treatment in patients with a low chance of surviving have both a small chance of benefiting this patient group and a high chance of harming them by depriving them of a good death. A 'rule of rescue' for the critically unwell does not justify time-limiting a trial of intensive care treatment and overlooks the experiential costs that intensive care patients face. Offering time-limited trials of intensive care to all patients, regardless of their chance of survival, overlooks the responsibility of resource-limited intensive care clinicians for suffering caused by their actions. A patient-specific risk-benefit analysis is vital when deciding whether to offer intensive care treatment, to ensure that time-limited trials of intensive care are not undertaken for patients who have a much higher chance of being harmed, rather than benefited by the treatment. The virtue ethics concept of human flourishing has the potential to offer additional ethical guidance to resource-limited clinicians facing these complex decisions, involving the balancing of a quantifiable survival benefit against the qualitative suffering that intensive care treatment may cause.

Population Preferences for Treatments When Critically Ill: A Discrete Choice Experiment

BACKGROUND

Many patients in the intensive care unit are too unwell to participate in shared decision making or have not previously documented their wishes. In these situations, understanding the values of the general population could help doctors provide appropriate guidance to surrogate decision makers.

METHODS

Using a discrete choice experiment design, we conducted an online survey using an Australian panel. Participants were asked about their willingness to accept treatments, faced with a variety of possible outcomes and probabilities (low, moderate or high). The outcomes were across four domains: loss of functional autonomy, pain, cognitive disability and degree of burden on others. Demographic details, prior experience of intensive care unit and current health conditions were also collected. Data were analysed using logistic regression, predicting whether respondents choose to continue active treatment or not.

RESULTS

Nine hundred and eighty-four respondents, representative of age and sex completed the web-based survey. With the increasing likelihood of negative post-intensive care unit sequelae, there was a higher probability of the respondent preferring to stop ongoing active treatment, with the largest coefficients being on caring assistance and the need for full-time residential care. Those who identified as very religious, were younger or who had children under 5 years of age were more likely to choose to continue active treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Respondents valued their independence as the most important factor in deciding whether to receive ongoing medical treatments in the intensive care unit. When clinicians are unable to obtain specific patient information, they should consider framing their decision making around the likelihood of the patient achieving functional independence rather than survival.

Alive and Ventilator Free: A Hierarchical, Composite Outcome for Clinical Trials in the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

OBJECTIVES

Survival from acute respiratory distress syndrome is improving, and outcomes beyond mortality may be important for testing new treatments. The "ventilator-free days" score, is an established composite that equates ventilation on day 28 to death. A hierarchical outcome treating death as a worse than prolonged ventilation would enhance face validity, but performance characteristics and reporting of such an outcome are unknown. We therefore evaluated the performance of a novel hierarchical composite endpoint, the Alive and Ventilator Free score.

DESIGN

Using data from four Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Network clinical trials, we compared Alive and Ventilator Free to the ventilator-free days score. Alive and Ventilator Free compares each patient with every other patient in a win-lose-tie for each comparison. Duration of mechanical ventilation is only compared if both patients survived. We evaluated power of Alive and Ventilator Free versus ventilator-free days score under various circumstances.

SETTING

ICUs within the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Network.

PATIENTS

Individuals enrolled in four Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Network trials.

INTERVENTIONS

None for this analysis.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Within the four trials (n = 2,410 patients), Alive and Ventilator Free and ventilator-free days score had similar power, with Alive and Ventilator Free slightly more powerful when a mortality difference was present, and ventilator-free days score slightly more powerful with a difference in duration of mechanical ventilation. Alive and Ventilator Free less often found in favor of treatments that increased mortality and increased days free of ventilation among survivors.

CONCLUSIONS

A hierarchical composite endpoint, Alive and Ventilator Free, preserves statistical power while improving face validity. Alive and Ventilator Free is less prone to favor a treatment with discordant effects on survival and days free of ventilation. This general approach can support complex outcome hierarchies with multiple constituent outcomes. Approaches to interpretation of differences in Alive and Ventilator Free are also presented.

Clinician-Family Communication About Patients' Values and Preferences in Intensive Care Units

IMPORTANCE

Little is known about whether clinicians and surrogate decision makers follow recommended strategies for shared decision making by incorporating intensive care unit (ICU) patients' values and preferences into treatment decisions.

OBJECTIVES

To determine how often clinicians and surrogates exchange information about patients' previously expressed values and preferences and deliberate and plan treatment based on these factors during conferences about prognosis and goals of care for incapacitated ICU patients.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

A secondary analysis of a prospective, multicenter cohort study of audiorecorded clinician-family conferences between surrogates and clinicians of 249 incapacitated, critically ill adults was conducted. The study was performed between October 8, 2009, and October 23, 2012. Data analysis was performed between July 2, 2014, and April 20, 2015. Patient eligibility criteria included lack of decision-making capacity, a diagnosis of acute respiratory distress syndrome, and predicted in-hospital mortality of 50% or more. In addition to the patients, 451 surrogates and 144 clinicians at 13 ICUs at 6 US academic and community medical centers were included.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Two coders analyzed transcripts of audiorecorded conversations for statements in which clinicians and surrogates exchanged information about patients' treatment preferences and health-related values and applied them in deliberation and treatment planning.

RESULTS

Of the 249 patients, 134 (54.9%) were men; mean (SD) age was 58.2 (16.5) years. Among the 244 conferences that addressed a decision about goals of care, 63 (25.8%; 95% CI, 20.3%-31.3%) contained no information exchange or deliberation about patients' values and preferences. Clinicians and surrogates exchanged information about patients' values and preferences in 167 (68.4%) (95% CI, 62.6%-74.3%) of the conferences and specifically deliberated about how the patients' values applied to the decision in 108 (44.3%; 95% CI, 38.0%-50.5%). Important end-of-life considerations, such as physical, cognitive, and social functioning or spirituality were each discussed in 87 (35.7%) or less of the conferences; surrogates provided a substituted judgment in 33 (13.5%); and clinicians made treatment recommendations based on patients' values and preferences in 20 conferences (8.2%).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Most clinician-family conferences about prognosis and goals of care for critically ill patients appear to lack important elements of communication about values and preferences, with robust deliberation being particularly deficient. Interventions may be needed to better prepare surrogates for these conversations and improve clinicians' communication skills for eliciting and incorporating patients' values and preferences into treatment decisions.

End-of-Life Discussion, Patient Understanding and Determinants of Preferences in Very Severe COPD Patients: A Multicentric Study

Discussion about patients' end-of-life (E-o-L) preferences should be part of the routine practice. Using a semi-structured interview with a scenario-based decision, we performed a prospective multicentre study to elicit the patients' E-o-L preferences in very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We also checked their ability to retain this information and the respect of their decisions when they die. Forty-three out of ninety-one of the eligible patients completed the study. The choice of E-o-L practice was equally distributed among the three proposed options: endotracheal intubation (ETI), 'ceiling' non-invasive ventilation (NIV), and palliation of symptoms with oxygen and morphine. NIV and ETI were more frequently chosen by patients who already experienced them. ETI preference was also associated with the use of anti-depressant drugs and a low educational level, while a higher educational level and a previous discussion with a pneumologist significantly correlated with the preference for oxygen and morphine. Less than 50% of the patients retained a full comprehension of the options at 24 hours. About half of the patients who died in the follow-up period were not treated according to their wishes. In conclusion, in end-stage COPD more efforts are needed to improve communication, patients' knowledge of the disease and E-o-L practice.

Depressive symptoms and anxiety in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors after ICU discharge

BACKGROUND

The association between intensive care unit (ICU) survivors' psychological sequelae, individual care needs, and discharge disposition has not been evaluated.

OBJECTIVE

To describe depressive symptoms and anxiety in ICU survivors and explore these symptoms based on individual care needs and discharge disposition for 4 months post-ICU discharge.

METHODS

We analyzed data from 39 ICU survivors who self-reported measures of depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression 10 items [CESD-10]) and anxiety (Shortened Profile of Mood States-Anxiety subscale [POMS-A]).

RESULTS

A majority of patients reported CESD-10 scores above the cut off (≥ 8) indicating risk for clinical depression. POMS-A scores were highest within 2 weeks post-ICU discharge and decreased subsequently. Data trends suggest worse depressive symptoms and anxiety when patients had moderate to high care needs and/or were unable to return home.

CONCLUSION

ICU survivors who need caregiver assistance and extended institutional care reported trends of worse depressive symptoms and anxiety.

When doctors and daughters disagree: twenty-two days and two blinks of an eye

A cornerstone of American medical ethics is the right to say, "Keep your hands off of me," to decline medical treatment. A central problem is how to decide about individuals who have become incapacitated and can no longer request or refuse potentially life-sustaining treatment. An advance directive is a formal attempt to protect people's right to autonomy when they are no longer autonomous. As such, it assumes that previously expressed wishes are precise and immutable, but many families make decisions together, and individuals may negotiate, compromise, and modify their genuine preferences, especially when novel threats arise, and the stakes are high. The current article describes a case in which two daughters overruled a patient's explicit preference to refuse life-sustaining treatment, leading to burdensome illness before death. In the end, the mother seemed to understand her children's needs and seemed willing, at least in retrospect, to have met those needs. After the death of this individual, we continued to talk with the daughters and videotaped an interview in which they shared their perspectives on the case. The daughters consented to be videotaped and to share the video with the medical community (available in online version of article). Their forceful devotion to their mother and their search in retrospect for what could have been done differently has completely changed our understanding of events. We believe that the daughters' behavior is not the indefensible breach of respect for person that it seemed to be. Their mother's true wishes might well have included a desire to help her children during her own dying. Family members' preferences are likely to be important considerations for many people, although the possibility of coercion has to be acknowledged as well. Accommodating this level of decision-making complexity is highly problematic for our understanding of advance directives.

Assessment of preferences for treatment: validation of a measure

Systematic measurement of treatment preferences is needed to obtain well-informed preferences. Guided by a conceptualization of treatment preferences, a measure was developed to assess treatment acceptability and preference. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the treatment acceptability and preferences (TAP) measure. The TAP measure contains a description of each treatment under evaluation, items to rate its acceptability, and questions about participants' preferred treatment option. The items measuring treatment acceptability were internally consistent (alpha > .80) and demonstrated validity, evidenced by a one-factor structure and differences in the scores between participants with preferences for particular interventions. The TAP measure has the potential for the assessment of acceptability and preferences for various behavioral interventions.

Terminal withdrawal of mechanical ventilation at a long-term acute care hospital: comparison with a medical ICU

BACKGROUND

Failure to wean from prolonged mechanical ventilation (MV) is common in long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs), but the process of terminal withdrawal of MV in LTACHs is not well described. We compared terminal withdrawal of MV at an LTACH with that in a medical ICU (MICU).

METHODS

A retrospective medical chart review was done of all patients undergoing terminal withdrawal of MV in an LTACH (n = 30) and in a MICU (n = 74) over a 2-year period.

RESULTS

The decision to withdraw MV was more likely initiated by patient or family in the LTACH and by medical staff in the MICU (p < 0.0001). Social workers, pastoral care, and hospital administration were more likely to participate in the withdrawal process at the LTACH compared with the MICU (p < 0.05). Time from initiation of MV to orders for do not resuscitate, comfort measures only, or withdrawal of MV was significantly greater in the LTACH (weeks) compared with the MICU (days) (p < 0.05). The dose of benzodiazepines given during the final 24 h of life was greater in the MICU as compared with the LTACH (p < 0.05). Narcotic and benzodiazepine use in the hour before or after withdrawal of MV did not differ between the two groups. COPD and pneumonia were the most common causes of death among patients undergoing withdrawal of MV at the LTACH, as opposed to septic shock in the MICU (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Terminal withdrawal of MV in the LTACH differs from that in the MICU with regard to decision making, benzodiazepine use, and cause of death.

Depression in general intensive care unit survivors: a systematic review

PURPOSE

To critically review data on the prevalence of depressive symptoms in general intensive care unit (ICU) survivors, risk factors for these symptoms, and their impact on health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

METHODS

We conducted a systematic review using Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and a hand-search of 13 journals.

RESULTS

Fourteen studies were eligible. The median point prevalence of "clinically significant" depressive symptoms was 28% (total n = 1,213). Neither sex nor age were consistent risk factors for post-ICU depression, and severity of illness at ICU admission was consistently not a risk factor. Early post-ICU depressive symptoms were a strong risk factor for subsequent depressive symptoms. Post-ICU depressive symptoms were associated with substantially lower HRQOL.

CONCLUSIONS

Depressive symptoms are common in general ICU survivors and negatively impact HRQOL. Future studies should address how factors related to individual patients, critical illness and post-ICU recovery are associated with depression in ICU survivors.

Characteristics associated with discharge to home following prolonged mechanical ventilation: a signal detection analysis

The objective of study was to identify characteristics associated with being home at 6 months in 80 patients on prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) (> or =7 days). At 6 months, 47.5% were home, 13.8% institutionalized, and 38.8% deceased and classified "not home." Using signal detection methodology (SDM), four mutually exclusive groups at high and low probability of being home were identified. The best outcome (94.4% home) was achieved by patients with an admission Charlson Comorbidity Score < or =3 and an Acute Physiology Score (APS) < or =21 and the worst outcome (23.4% home) by patients with an admission Charlson Comorbidity Score >3 and Health Assessment Questionnaire score >2.7. SDM provided an effective means of identifying subgroups likely to be discharged home using available information.