The conveyor belt for older people nearing the end of life.

The current fallback position for the elderly frail nearing the end of life (less than 12 months to live) is hospitalisation. There is a reluctance to use the term 'terminally ill' for this population, resulting in overtreatment, overdiagnosis and management that is not consistent with the wishes of people. This is the major contributor to the so-called hospital crisis, including decreased capacity of hospitals, reduced ability to conduct elective surgery, increased attendances at emergency departments and ambulance ramping. The authors recently conducted the largest randomised study, to their knowledge, attempting to inform specialist hospital medical teams about the terminally ill status of their admitted patients. This information did not influence their clinical decisions in any way. The authors discuss the reasons why this may have occurred, such as the current avoidance of discussing death and dying by society and the concentration of healthcare workers on actively managing the acute presenting problem and ignoring the underlying prognosis in the elderly frail. The authors discuss ways of improving the management of the elderly nearing the end of life, such as more detailed goals of care discussions using the concept of shared decision-making rather than simply completing Advanced Care Decision documents. Empowering people in this way could become the most important driver of people's health care.

Clinicians' and public acceptability of universal risk-of-death screening for older people in routine clinical practice in Australia: cross-sectional surveys.

BACKGROUND: Clinicians' delays to identify risk of death and communicate it to patients nearing the end of life contribute to health-related harm in health services worldwide. This study sought to ascertain doctors, nurses and senior members of the public's perceptions of the routine use of a screening tool to predict risk of death for older people. METHODS: Cross-sectional online, face-to-face and postal survey of 360 clinicians and 497 members of the public. RESULTS: Most (65.9%) of the members of the public welcomed (and 12.3% were indifferent to) the use of a screening tool as a decision guide to minimise overtreatment and errors from clinician assumptions. Supporters of the use of a prognostic tool were likely to be males with high social capital, chronically ill and who did not have an advance health directive. The majority of clinicians (75.6%) reported they were likely or very likely to use the tool, or might consider using it if convinced of its accuracy. A minority (13.3%) stated they preferred to rely on their clinical judgement and would be unlikely to use it. Differentials in support for tools by seniority were observed, with more support expressed by nurses, interns and registrars than medical specialists (χ2 = 12.95, p = 0.044) and by younger (< 40 years) clinicians (81.2% vs. 71.2%, p = 0.0058). DISCUSSION: The concept of integrating prognostication of death in routine practice was not resisted by either target group. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that screening for risk of death is seen as potentially useful and suggests the readiness for a culture change. Future research on implementation strategies could be a step in the right direction.

A stepped-wedge randomised-controlled trial assessing the implementation, impact and costs of a prospective feedback loop to promote appropriate care and treatment for older patients in acute hospitals at the end of life: study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalisation rates for the older population have been increasing with end-of-life care becoming a more medicalised and costly experience. There is evidence that some of these patients received non-beneficial treatment during their final hospitalisation with a third of the non-beneficial treatment duration spent in intensive care units. This study aims to increase appropriate care and treatment decisions and pathways for older patients at the end of life in Australia. This study will implement and evaluate a prospective feedback loop and tailored clinical response intervention at three hospitals in Queensland, Australia. METHODS: A stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial will be conducted with up to 21 clinical teams in three acute hospitals over 70 weeks. The study involves clinical teams providing care to patients aged 75 years or older, who are prospectively identified to be at risk of non-beneficial treatment using two validated tools for detecting death and deterioration risks. The intervention's feedback loop will provide the teams with a summary of these patients' risk profiles as a stimulus for a tailored clinical response in the intervention phase. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research will be used to inform the intervention's implementation and process evaluation. The study will determine the impact of the intervention on patient outcomes related to appropriate care and treatment at the end of life in hospitals, as well as the associated healthcare resource use and costs. The primary outcome is the proportion of patients who are admitted to intensive care units. A process evaluation will be carried out to assess the implementation, mechanisms of impact, and contextual barriers and enablers of the intervention. DISCUSSION: This intervention is expected to have a positive impact on the care of older patients near the end of life, specifically to improve clinical decision-making about treatment pathways and what constitutes appropriate care for these patients. These will reduce the incidence of non-beneficial treatment, and improve the efficiency of hospital resources and quality of care. The process evaluation results will be useful to inform subsequent intervention implementation at other hospitals. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ANZCTR), ACTRN12619000675123p (approved 6 May 2019).

Are We Making Progress on Communication with People Who Are Near the End of Life in the Australian Health System? A Thematic Analysis.

Initiating end-of-life (EoL) discussions with patients is often delayed or avoided altogether by healthcare practitioners even in light of imminent death. This continues despite the availability of guidelines and conceptual frameworks on how to communicate prognoses at EoL. We surveyed healthcare practitioners to elicit their exposure to and confidence in EoL discussions and to better understand factors that enable or challenge the initiation of discussions in Australian healthcare settings. Thematic analysis identified that EoL discussions could be emotionally burdensome for healthcare practitioners but were regarded as valuable. Effective communications were challenged by conflict with families and between healthcare practitioners as to appropriate care goal transition, and by prognostic uncertainty. Communication skills appeared to be developed more from experience, and beneficial strategies such as role play and mentoring particularly for younger nurses and doctors were identified. Specific training in EoL communications should target undergraduates and new healthcare practitioners.

Impact of the Four-Hour Rule policy on emergency medical services delays in Australian EDs: a longitudinal cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Delayed handover of emergency medical services (EMS) patients to EDs is a major issue with hospital crowding considered a primary cause. We explore the impact of the 4-hour rule (the Policy) in Australia, focusing on ambulance and ED delays. METHODS: EMS (ambulance), ED and hospital data of adult patients presenting to 14 EDs from 2002 to 2013 in three jurisdictions were linked. Interrupted time series 'Before-and-After' trend analysis was used for assessing the Policy's impact. Random effects meta-regression analysis was examined for associations between ambulance delays and Policy-associated ED intake, throughput and output changes. RESULTS: Before the Policy, the proportion of ED ambulances delayed increased between 1.1% and 1.7% per quarter across jurisdictions. After Policy introduction, Western Australia's increasing trend continued but Queensland decreased by 5.1% per quarter. In New South Wales, ambulance delay decreased 7.1% in the first quarter after Policy introduction. ED intake (triage delay) improved only in New South Wales and Queensland. Each 1% ambulance delay reduction was significantly associated with a 0.91% reduction in triage delay (p=0.014) but not ED length of stay ≤4 hours (p=0.307) or access-block/boarding (p=0.605) suggesting only partial improvement in ambulance delay overall. CONCLUSION: The Policy was associated with reduced ambulance delays over time in Queensland and only the immediate period in New South Wales. Associations may be due to local jurisdictional initiatives to improve ambulance performance. Strategies to alleviate ambulance delay may need to focus on the ED intake component. These should be re-examined with longer periods of post-Policy data.

End-of-life priorities of older adults with terminal illness and caregivers: A qualitative consultation.

BACKGROUND: As older adults approach the end-of-life (EOL), many are faced with complex decisions including whether to use medical advances to prolong life. Limited information exists on the priorities of older adults at the EOL. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore patient and family experiences and identify factors deemed important to quality EOL care. METHOD: A descriptive qualitative study involving three focus group discussions (n = 18) and six in-depth interviews with older adults suffering from either a terminal condition and/or caregivers were conducted in NSW, Australia. Data were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Seven major themes were identified as follows: quality as a priority, sense of control, life on hold, need for health system support, being at home, talking about death and competent and caring health professionals. An underpinning priority throughout the seven themes was knowing and adhering to patient's wishes. CONCLUSION: Our study highlights that to better adhere to EOL patient's wishes a reorganization of care needs is required. The readiness of the health system to cater for this expectation is questionable as real choices may not be available in acute hospital settings. With an ageing population, a reorganization of care which influences the way we manage terminal patients is required.

States worse than death.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review aims to discuss situations where patients would prefer to consider dying rather than survive, particularly in the context of choosing whether to be subjected to active medical management aimed at increasing their life span. RECENT FINDINGS: Obviously, there are no randomized trials on evaluating whether patients would choose death rather than life. Moreover, the topic of the review is rarely addressed in a conventional scientific way. Instead, we review the suffering that people may go through when receiving futile care in both the short and long-term in acute hospitals and how this may influence people's decisions about their own Goals of Care. SUMMARY: The review describes the failure of acute hospitals to recognize people at the end of life until very late and, when they are recognized, the failure to manage the dying process well. The inference is that if patients were genuinely aware of the potential short and long-term suffering involved in futile care, they would consider those states worse, may be worse than death, especially when death is almost certainly inevitable with or without conventional treatment.

Who Benefits from Aggressive Rapid Response System Treatments Near the End of Life? A Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Many patients near the end of life are subject to rapid response system (RRS) calls. A study was conducted in a large Sydney teaching hospital to identify a cutoff point that defines nonbeneficial treatment for older hospital patients receiving an RRS call, describe interventions administered, and measure the cost of hospitalization. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort of 733 adult inpatients with data for the period three months before and after their last placed RRS call. Subgroup analysis of patients aged ≥ 80 years was conducted. Log-rank, chi-square, and t-tests were used to compare survival, and logistic regression was used to examine predictors of death. RESULTS: Overall, 65 (8.9%) patients had a preexisting not-for-resuscitation (NFR) or not-for-RRS order; none of those patients survived to three months. By contrast, patients without an NFR or not-for-RRS order had three-month survival probability of 71% (log-rank χ2 145.63; p < 0.001). Compared with survivors, RRS recipients who died were more likely to be older, to be admitted to a medical ward, and to have a larger mean number of admissions before the RRS. The average cost of hospitalization for the very old transferred to the ICU was higher than for those not requiring treatment in the ICU (US$33,990 vs. US$14,774; p = 0.045). CONCLUSION: Identifiable risk factors clearly associated with poor clinical outcomes and death can be used as a guide to administer less aggressive treatments, including reconsideration of ICU transfers, adherence to NFR orders, and transition to end-of-life management instead of calls to the RRS team.

The impact of post-operative sepsis on mortality after hospital discharge among elective surgical patients: a population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Our aim in the present study was to assess the mortality impact of hospital-acquired post-operative sepsis up to 1 year after hospital discharge among adult non-short-stay elective surgical patients. METHODS: We conducted a population-based, retrospective cohort study of all elective surgical patients admitted to 82 public acute hospitals between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2012 in New South Wales, Australia. All adult elective surgical admission patients who stayed in hospital for ≥4 days and survived to discharge after post-operative sepsis were identified using the Admitted Patient Data Collection records linked with the Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. We assessed post-discharge mortality rates at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and 1 year and compared them with those of patients without post-operative sepsis. RESULTS: We studied 144,503 survivors to discharge. Of these, 1857 (1.3%) had experienced post-operative sepsis. Their post-discharge mortality rates at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and 1 year were 4.6%, 6.7%, 8.1% and 13.5% (vs 0.7%, 1.2%, 1.5% and 3.8% in the non-sepsis cohort), respectively (P < 0.0001 for all). After adjustment for patient and hospital characteristics, post-operative sepsis remained independently associated with a higher mortality risk (30-day mortality HR 2.75, 95% CI 2.14-3.53; 60-day mortality HR 2.45, 95% CI 1.94-3.10; 90-day mortality HR 2.31, 95% CI 1.85-2.87; 1-year mortality HR 1.71, 95% CI 1.46-2.00). Being older than 75 years of age (HR 3.50, 95% CI 1.56-7.87) and presence of severe/very severe co-morbidities as defined by Charlson co-morbidity index (severe vs normal HR 2.05, 95% CI 1.45-2.89; very severe vs normal HR 2.17, 95% CI 1.49-3.17) were the only other significant independent predictors of increased 1-year mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Among elective surgical patients, post-operative sepsis is independently associated with increased post-discharge mortality up to 1 year after hospital discharge. This risk is particularly high in the first month, in older age patients and in the presence of severe/very severe co-morbidities. This high-risk population can be targeted for interventions.

Evidence still insufficient that advance care documentation leads to engagement of healthcare professionals in end-of-life discussions: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Administration of non-beneficial life-sustaining treatments in terminal elderly patients still occurs due to lack of knowledge of patient's wishes or delayed physician-family communications on preference. AIM: To determine whether advance care documentation encourages healthcare professional's timely engagement in end-of-life discussions. DESIGN: Systematic review of the English language articles published from January 2000 to April 2015. DATA SOURCES: EMBASE, MEDLINE, EBM REVIEWS, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Cochrane Library and manual searches of reference lists. RESULTS: A total of 24 eligible articles from 10 countries including 23,914 subjects met the inclusion criteria, mostly using qualitative or mixed methods, with the exception of two cohort studies. The influence of advance care documentation on initiation of end-of-life discussions was predominantly based on perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and personal experience rather than on standard replicable measures of effectiveness in triggering the discussion. While health professionals reported positive perceptions of the use of advance care documentations (18/24 studies), actual evidence of their engagement in end-of-life discussions or confidence gained from accessing previously formulated wishes in advance care documentations was not generally available. CONCLUSION: Perceived effectiveness of advance care documentation in encouraging end-of-life discussions appears to be high but is mostly derived from low-level evidence studies. This may indicate a willingness and openness of patients, surrogates and staff to perceive advance directives as an instrument to improve communication, rather than actual evidence of timeliness or effectiveness from suitably designed studies. The assumption that advance care documentations will lead to higher physicians' confidence or engagement in communicating with patients/families could not be objectively demonstrated in this review.

Incidences and variations of hospital acquired venous thromboembolism in Australian hospitals: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Data on hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism (HA-VTE) incidence, case fatality rate and variation amongst patient groups and health providers is lacking. We aim to explore HA-VTE incidences, associated mortality, trends and variations across all acute hospitals in New South Wales (NSW)-Australia. METHODS: A population-based study using all admitted patients (aged 18-90 with a length of stay of at least two days and not transferred to another acute care facility) in 104 NSW acute public and private hospitals during 2002-2009. Poisson mixed models were used to derive adjusted rate ratios (IRR) in presence of patient and hospital characteristics. RESULTS: Amongst, 3,331,677 patients, the incidence of HA-VTE was 11.45 per 1000 patients and one in ten who developed HA-VTE died in hospital. HA-VTE incidence, initially rose, but subsequently declined, whereas case fatality rate consistently declined by 22 % over the study period. Surgical patients were 128 % (IRR = 2.28, 95 % CI: 2.19-2.38) more likely to develop HA-VTE, but had similar case fatality rates compared to medical patients. Private hospitals, in comparison to public hospitals had a higher incidence of HA-VTE (IRR = 1.76; 95 % CI: 1.42-2.18) for medical patients. However, they had a similar incidence (IRR = 0.91; 95 % CI: 0.75-1.11), but a lower mortality (IRR = 0.59; 95 % CI: 0.47-0.75) amongst surgical patients. Smaller public hospitals had a lower HA-VTE incidence rate compared to larger hospitals (IRR < 0.68) but a higher case fatality rate (IRR > 1.71). Hospitals with a lower reported HA-VTE incidence tended to have a higher HA-VTE case fatality rate. CONCLUSION: Despite the decline in HA-VTE incidence and case fatality, there were large variations in incidents between medical and surgical patients, public and private hospitals, and different hospital groups. The causes of such differences warrant further investigation and may provide potential for targeted interventions and quality improvement initiatives.

Vital signs monitoring on general wards: clinical staff perceptions of current practices and the planned introduction of continuous monitoring technology.

OBJECTIVE: Early detection of patient deterioration and prevention of adverse events are key challenges to patient safety. This study investigated clinical staff perceptions of current monitoring practices and the planned introduction of continuous monitoring devices on general wards. DESIGN: Multi-method study comprising structured surveys, in-depth interviews and device trial with log book feedback. SETTING: Two general wards in a large urban teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Respiratory and neurosurgery nursing staff and two doctors. RESULTS: Nurses were confident about their abilities to identify patients at risk of deterioration, using a combination of vital signs and visual assessment. There were concerns about the accuracy of current vital signs monitoring equipment and frequency of intermittent observation. Both the nurses and the doctors were enthusiastic about the prospect of continuous monitoring and perceived it would allow earlier identification of patient deterioration; provide reassurance to patients; and support interdisciplinary communication. There were also reservations about continuous monitoring, including potential decrease in bedside nurse-patient interactions; increase in inappropriate escalations of patient care; and discomfort to patients. CONCLUSIONS: While continuous monitoring devices were seen as a potentially positive tool to support the identification of patient deterioration, drawbacks, such as the potential for reduced patient contact, revealed key areas that will require close surveillance following the implementation of devices. Training and improved interdisciplinary communication were identified as key requisites for successful implementation.

Characteristics and outcomes of patients admitted to ICU following activation of the medical emergency team: impact of introducing a two-tier response system.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of introducing a two-tier system for responding to deteriorating ward patients on ICU admissions after medical emergency team review. DESIGN: Retrospective database review before (2006-2009) and after (2011-2013) the introduction of a two-tier system. SETTING: Tertiary, university-affiliated hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 1,564 ICU admissions. INTERVENTIONS: Two-tier rapid response system. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The median number of medical emergency team activations/1,000 hospitalizations increased from 22 to 31 (difference [95% CI], 9 [5-10]; p<0.0001) with a decreased rate of medical emergency team activations leading to ICU admission (from median 11 to 8; difference [95% CI], 3 [3-4]; p=0.03). The median proportion of medical emergency team reviews leading to ICU admission increased for those triggered by tachypnoea (from 11% to 15%; difference [95% CI], 4 [3-5]; p<0.0001) and by hypotension (from 27% to 43%; difference [95% CI], 15 [12-19]; p<0.0001) and decreased for those triggered by reduced level of consciousness (from 20% to 17%; difference [95% CI], 3 [2-4]; p<0.0001) and by clinical concern (from 18% to 9%; difference [95% CI], 10 [9-13]; p<0.0001). The proportions of ICU admissions following medical emergency team review did not change significantly for tachycardia, seizure, or cardiorespiratory arrest. The overall ICU mortality for admissions following medical emergency team review for tachypnoea, tachycardia, and clinical concern decreased (from 29% to 9%: difference [95% CI], 20 [11-29]; p<0.0001) but did not change for the other triggers. The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation predicted and observed ICU mortality and the proportion of patients dying with a not-for-resuscitation order decreased. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of a two-tier response to clinical deterioration increased ICU admissions triggered by cardiorespiratory criteria, whereas admissions triggered by more subjective criteria decreased. The overall ICU mortality for patients admitted following medical emergency team review decreased, suggesting that the two-tier system led to earlier recognition of reversible pathology or a decision not to escalate the level of care.

Delayed Emergency Team Calls and Associated Hospital Mortality: A Multicenter Study.

OBJECTIVE: We tested the hypothesis that responses to physiologic deterioration in hospital ward patients delayed by more than 15 minutes are associated with increased mortality. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We used data from a 23-hospital cluster randomized trial (January 2004 to December 2004) of implementation of rapid response teams (intervention) versus standard practice with conventional cardiac arrest team-based responses to emergencies (control). We examined emergency calls in all hospitals. In intervention hospitals, we also examined such calls in the period before, during the introduction, and after the full implementation of a rapid response system. We studied the statistical association between such delayed calls and mortality. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Hospital outcomes (mortality, unplanned ICU admissions, and cardiac arrests). RESULTS: There were 3,135 emergency team calls in all hospitals. Overall, almost one third of such calls were delayed. In intervention hospitals, the proportion of delayed calls was similar before and after implementation of rapid response teams. Compared with control hospitals, in intervention hospitals, there was a significant decrease in the proportion of delayed calls during both the introduction (27.3% vs 34.3% weekly rate; incidence rate ratio, 0.84; p = 0.001) and the full implementation period (29.0% vs 34.5% weekly rate; incidence rate ratio, 0.84; p = 0.023). Delayed calls more likely occurred at night, in high dependence or coronary care units, in patients older than 75 years, in those with a decrease in Glasgow Coma Scale, or in those with hypotension as the reason for the call. Finally, in all hospitals, delayed calls were associated with an increased risk of unplanned ICU admissions (adjusted odds ratio = 1.56; 95% CI, 1.23-2.04; p ≤ 0.001) and death (adjusted odds ratio = 1.79; 95% CI, 1.43-2.27; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Among ward patients, emergency team activation in response to acute deterioration triggered more than 15 minutes after detection and documentation of instability is independently associated with an increased risk of ICU admission and death.

Central venous catheter placement by advanced practice nurses demonstrates low procedural complication and infection rates--a report from 13 years of service*.

OBJECTIVES: To report procedural characteristics and outcomes from a central venous catheter placement service operated by advanced practice nurses. DESIGN: Single-center observational study. SETTING: A tertiary care university hospital in Sydney, Australia. PATIENTS: Adult patients from the general wards and from critical care areas receiving a central venous catheter, peripherally inserted central catheter, high-flow dialysis catheter, or midline catheter for parenteral therapy between November 1996 and December 2009. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Prevalence rates by indication, site, and catheter type were assessed. Nonparametric tests were used to calculate differences in outcomes for categorical data. Catheter infection rates were determined per 1,000 catheter days after derivation of the denominator. A total of 4,560 catheters were placed in 3,447 patients. The most common catheters inserted were single-lumen peripherally inserted central catheters (n = 1,653; 36.3%) and single-lumen central venous catheters (n = 1,233; 27.0%). A small proportion of high-flow dialysis catheters were also inserted over the reporting period (n = 150; 3.5%). Sixty-one percent of all catheters placed were for antibiotic administration. The median device dwell time (in d) differed across cannulation sites (p < 0.001). Subclavian catheter placement had the longest dwell time with a median of 16 days (interquartile range, 8-26 d). Overall catheter dwell was reported at a cumulative 63,071 catheter days. The overall catheter-related bloodstream infection rate was 0.2 per 1,000 catheter days. The prevalence rate of pneumothorax recorded was 0.4%, and accidental arterial puncture (simple puncture-with no dilation or cannulation) was 1.3% using the subclavian vein. CONCLUSIONS: This report has demonstrated low complication rates for a hospital-wide service delivered by advance practice nurses. The results suggest that a centrally based service with specifically trained operators can be beneficial by potentially improving patient safety and promoting organizational efficiencies.

Subglottic secretion drainage for preventing ventilator associated pneumonia: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been shown to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality.(1-3) It has been reported to affect between 9 and 27% of intubated patients receiving mechanical ventilation.(4-6) OBJECTIVE: A meta-analysis was undertaken to combine information from published studies of the effect of subglottic drainage of secretions on the incidence of ventilated associated pneumonia in adult ICU patients. DATA SOURCES: Studies were identified by searching MEDLINE (1966 to January 2011), EMBASE (1980-2011), and CINAHL (1982 to January 2011). REVIEW METHODS: Randomized trials of subglottic drainage of secretions compared to usual care in adult mechanically ventilated ICU patients were included in the meta-analysis. RESULTS: Subglottic drainage of secretions was estimated to reduced the risk of VAP by 48% (fixed-effect relative risk (RR)=0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.42-0.65). When comparing subglottic drainage and control groups, the summary relative risk for ICU mortality was 1.05 (95% CI, 0.86-1.28) and for hospital mortality was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.81-1.12). Overall subglottic drainage effect on days of mechanical ventilation was -1.04 days (95% CI, -2.79-0.71). CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis of published randomized control trials shows that almost one-half of cases of VAP may be prevented with the use of specialized endotracheal tubes designed to drain subglottic secretions. Time on mechanical ventilation may be reduced and time to development of VAP may be increased, but no reduction in ICU or hospital mortality has been observed in published trials.

The role of the medical emergency team in end-of-life care: a multicenter, prospective, observational study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of medical emergency teams in end-of-life care planning. DESIGN: One month prospective audit of medical emergency team calls. SETTING: Seven university-affiliated hospitals in Australia, Canada, and Sweden. PATIENTS: Five hundred eighteen patients who received a medical emergency team call over 1 month. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: There were 652 medical emergency team calls in 518 patients, with multiple calls in 99 (19.1%) patients. There were 161 (31.1%) patients with limitations of medical therapy during the study period. The limitation of medical therapy was instituted in 105 (20.3%) and 56 (10.8%) patients before and after the medical emergency team call, respectively. In 78 patients who died with a limitation of medical therapy in place, the last medical emergency team review was on the day of death in 29.5% of patients, and within 2 days in another 28.2%.Compared with patients who did not have a limitation of medical therapy, those with a limitation of medical therapy were older (80 vs. 66 yrs; p < .001), less likely to be male (44.1% vs. 55.7%; p = .014), more likely to be medical admissions (70.8% vs. 51.3%; p < .001), and less likely to be admitted from home (74.5% vs. 92.2%, p < .001). In addition, those with a limitation of medical therapy were less likely to be discharged home (22.4% vs. 63.6%; p < .001) and more likely to die in hospital (48.4% vs. 12.3%; p < .001). There was a trend for increased likelihood of calls associated with limitations of medical therapy to occur out of hours (51.0% vs. 43.8%, p = .089). CONCLUSIONS: Issues around end-of-life care and limitations of medical therapy arose in approximately one-third of calls, suggesting a mismatch between patient needs for end-of-life care and resources at participating hospitals. These calls frequently occur in elderly medical patients and out of hours. Many such patients do not return home, and half die in hospital. There is a need for improved advanced care planning in our hospitals, and to confirm our findings in other organizations.

Clinical Reflection: a vital process for supporting the development of wisdom in doctors.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review explores in detail the practice of reflection and its importance for doctors. It offers a definition of and a framework for both oral and written Clinical Reflection. It presents a thorough and detailed explanation of Clinical Reflection, its meaning, purpose, and processes and provides an illustrative case example from critical care. RECENT FINDINGS: Detailed reflection about clinical practice is now demanded by all postgraduate medical curricula and is beginning to be a requirement for annual appraisal. Doctors have been slow to develop reflective practice for themselves, tending to adopt methods from other healthcare professionals, because there is little in print to guide this process in relation to medical practice. SUMMARY: Clinical Reflection offers doctors a powerful way of supporting their professional development and providing evidence of their practical wisdom as expressed by Aristotle. It is time that an appropriate understanding of what reflection can offer doctors is explored more generally among the profession.

Have the health gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian children changed over time? Results from an Australian National Representative Longitudinal Study.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes of health gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children over time and to explore critical factors that contribute to the changes. We employed data consisting of two cohorts of Australian children: infant (0/1 year) and children (4/5 years) that are part of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Health outcomes were measured by physical outcome index (POI) and parent-rated health during 2004, 2006 and 2008. We used first-order autoregressive modelling to examine the longitudinal relationship between the changes in health outcomes and possible contributing risk factors. The results showed that the trends of POIs between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children were closing, while the gap of parent-rated health between the two populations persisted. We found that health outcomes (both POI and parent-rated health) at an earlier time point (t - 1) were significant predictors of the outcomes at the later time point (t). Carer's depression status, socio-economic position and neighbourhood liveability had significant and consistent impacts on parent-rated health, but had only varying impacts on POIs between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children as well as between the birth cohorts at different time periods. Similarly, low birth weight, carer's binge drinking behaviour and other risk factors showed such varying impacts at a particular time period. The study implied that appropriate interventions accompanied by monitoring of health outcomes are necessary in order to decrease the health gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

Impact of a standardised rapid response system on clinical outcomes of female patients: an interrupted time series approach.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the impact of a standardised rapid response systems (the Between the Flags (BTF)) implemented across New South Wales (NSW), Australia, among female patients. METHODS: We conducted an interrupted time series (2007-2013) population-based linkage study including 5 114 170 female patient (≥18 years old) admissions in all 232 public hospitals in NSW. We studied changes in levels and trends of patient outcomes after BTF implementation among four age groups of female patients. RESULTS: Before the BTF system introduction (2007-2009), for the female patients as a whole, there was a progressive decrease in rates of in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest (IHCA), IHCA-related mortality and hospital mortality for female patients. However, there were no changes in deaths in low-mortality diagnostic-related groups (DLMDRGs), IHCA survival to discharge and 1-year post-discharge mortality after surviving an IHCA. Only the female patients aged 55 years and older showed the same results as the whole sample. After the BTF programme (2010-2013), the same trends (except for DLMDRG) continued for female patients as a whole and for those aged 55 years or older. There was a significant reduction in DLMDRG among female patients aged 35-54 years (p<0.001), those aged 75 years and over (p<0.05) and female patients as a whole (p<0.05). The decreasing secular trend of surviving an IHCA to hospital discharge before the BTF system (p<0.05) among patients aged 18-34 years old was reversed after the BTF implementation (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: For female patients the BTF programme introduction was associated with continued reductions in the rates of IHCA, IHCA-related mortality and hospital mortality, as well as a new reduction in DLMDRG for 35-54 years old patients and those aged 75 years and older, and increased survival for those aged 18-34 years who had suffered an IHCA.