Prognostic categories and timing of negative prognostic communication from critical care physicians to family members at end-of-life in an intensive care unit.

Negative prognostic communication is often delayed in intensive care units, which limits time for families to prepare for end-of-life. This descriptive study, informed by ethnographic methods, was focused on exploring critical care physician communication of negative prognoses to families and identifying timing influences. Prognostic communication of critical care physicians to nurses and family members was observed and physicians and family members were interviewed. Physician perception of prognostic certainty, based on an accumulation of empirical data, and the perceived need for decision-making, drove the timing of prognostic communication, rather than family needs. Although prognoses were initially identified using intuitive knowledge for patients in one of the six identified prognostic categories, utilizing decision-making to drive prognostic communication resulted in delayed prognostic communication to families until end-of-life (EOL) decisions could be justified with empirical data. Providers will better meet the needs of families who desire earlier prognostic information by separating prognostic communication from decision-making and communicating the possibility of a poor prognosis based on intuitive knowledge, while acknowledging the uncertainty inherent in prognostication. This sets the stage for later prognostic discussions focused on EOL decisions, including limiting or withdrawing treatment, which can be timed when empirical data substantiate intuitive prognoses. This allows additional time for families to anticipate and prepare for end-of-life decision-making.

Advance directives in an intensive care unit: experiences and recommendations of critical care nurses and physicians.

AIM OF STUDY: This study explored the experiences of critical care nurses and physicians with advance directives (ADs) in an intensive care unit (ICU) to identify the benefits and limitations of ADs and recommendations for improvement. METHODS, SETTING, AND SUBJECTS: This descriptive study, obtained by ethnographic means, was implemented in a 22-bed adult medical-surgical ICU in a large community hospital in the Midwestern United States. Subjects included 14 critical care nurses, 7 attending, and 3 fellow critical care physicians. Subjects were interviewed informally and formally. Patient medical records were reviewed for ADs. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Results supported numerous problems with ADs described previously and identified additional problems, including inability of ADs to prevent unwanted aggressive treatments outside of health care facilities, and patient reluctance to share ADs for fear of physicians "throwing in the towel" too early. Although most subjects described ADs as "useless," one helpful aspect was using ADs to shift perceptions of responsibility for end-of-life decision making and outcomes from the family/providers to the patient by reframing "pulling the plug" to "honoring patient wishes." Recommendations are described, including evolving the current emphasis of increasing completion of ADs to encourage patient-family discussions focused on quality of life to increase the likelihood of discussions occurring.

Experiences and needs of families regarding prognostic communication in an intensive care unit: supporting families at the end of life.

This article reports the results of a study designed to explore the experiences and needs of family members for prognostic communication at end of life in an intensive care unit (ICU). Subjects in this qualitative study included 20 family members of patients at high risk for death in 1 adult medical/surgical ICU. All subjects were interviewed once utilizing a semistructured interview format, with approximately half interviewed multiple times during the ICU stay. Families described 5 themes of information-related "work": (1) hearing and recalling, (2) accessing, (3) interpreting, (4) retaining, and (5) utilizing information for decision making. Barriers, including accessing physicians and cognitive issues from high levels of stress, made this work difficult. Families described a need for prognostic information, especially if the prognosis was poor. Because hearing this news was difficult, they needed it communicated with respect, sensitivity, and compassion. Suggestions for clinical practice to support families in their information-related work are presented. Overall, the importance of providers approaching communication from a holistic perspective, extending beyond simply passing on information, is emphasized. Viewing communication as a therapeutic modality, and communicating with compassion, sensitivity, and a genuine sense of caring, can help provide both the information and the emotional support and comfort families desperately need.

Facilitating Timely Advance Care Planning: Discussions in the Ambulatory Setting With a Heart Failure Population.

This quality improvement project utilized a risk stratification process and an advance care planning (ACP) tool to identify patients at high risk of death and prompt ACP discussions and documentation of health care preferences in the electronic health record. Inherent uncertainty in heart failure (HF) prognostication and provider time constraints impede initiation of timely ACP discussions. In an effort to mitigate these obstacles, the Seattle Heart Failure Model was utilized to calculate mortality risk for 195 patients in an ambulatory HF clinic. Next, a HF-specific ACP tool, developed for this project, was used to prompt and guide ACP discussions with patients determined to have a prognosis of life expectancy of 3 years or less. The project yielded a 35% completion of ACP tools over 3 months, with 100% of these entered into the electronic health record. Postimplementation surveys suggest clinic staff believe a comprehensive and systematic approach to ACP services facilitates timely ACP discussions and decision making in the outpatient setting.

Critical care nurses' perceptions of and responses to moral distress.

Nurses frequently experience conflict regarding healthcare decisions, yet are expected to implement actions which they perceive to be morally wrong. Research has described the deleterious effects of this moral incongruency, coined moral distress, on nurses' well being and has identified it as a causative agent in nursing turnover, burnout, and nurses leaving the profession. Thus, it is known that moral distress has significant consequences for nurses, but does moral distress affect nurses' provision of care, and if so, how?

Prognostic communication of critical care nurses and physicians at end of life.

Many critical care nurses express reluctance to communicate prognostic information to patients and family members, especially prior to physician communication of this information. Yet, the findings from this study indicate that critical care nurses play a crucial, complementary role to physicians in prognostic communication. Nurses' contributions result in a broader picture of prognosis to patients and family members and facilitate end-of-life discussions.