A scoping review of the perceptions of death in the context of organ donation and transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Socio-cultural perceptions surrounding death have profoundly changed since the 1950s with development of modern intensive care and progress in solid organ transplantation. Despite broad support for organ transplantation, many fundamental concepts and practices including brain death, organ donation after circulatory death, and some antemortem interventions to prepare for transplantation continue to be challenged. Attitudes toward the ethical issues surrounding death and organ donation may influence support for and participation in organ donation but differences between and among diverse populations have not been studied. OBJECTIVES: In order to clarify attitudes toward brain death, organ donation after circulatory death and antemortem interventions in the context of organ donation, we conducted a scoping review of international English-language quantitative surveys in various populations. STUDY APPRAISAL: A search of literature up to October 2020 was performed, using multiple databases. After screening, 45 studies were found to meet pre-specified inclusion criteria. RESULTS: 32 studies examined attitudes to brain death, predominantly in healthcare professionals. In most, around 75% of respondents accepted brain death as equivalent to death of the person. Less common perspectives included equating death with irreversible coma and willingness to undertake organ donation even if it caused death. 14 studies examined attitudes to organ donation following circulatory death. Around half of respondents in most studies accepted that death could be confidently diagnosed after only 5 min of cardiorespiratory arrest. The predominant reason was lack of confidence in doctors or diagnostic procedures. Only 6 studies examined attitudes towards antemortem interventions in prospective organ donors. Most respondents supported minimally invasive procedures and only where specific consent was obtained. CONCLUSIONS: Our review suggests a considerable proportion of people, including healthcare professionals, have doubts about the medical and ethical validity of modern determinations of death. The prognosis of brain injury was a more common concern in the context of organ donation decision-making than certainty of death.

Perceived Discomfort in Patients admitted to Intensive Care (DETECT DISCOMFORT 1): a prospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: Discomfort experienced by patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) is an important indicator of the quality of care provided, but few studies have evaluated the incidence and magnitude of discomfort in critically ill patients. The IPREA (Inconforts des Patients de REAnimation) discomfort questionnaire is a tool developed by French intensivists and validated in the French language with good internal consistency (Cronbach's α, 0.78). OBJECTIVES: To translate and validate in English the IPREA discomfort questionnaire, to evaluate discomfort perceived by patients in intensive care, and to identify predictors of discomfort. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: After translating the IPREA questionnaire using published methods that use principles of good practice for translating and culturally adapting patient-reported outcomes measures, all eligible patients (aged > 18 years, Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15, English speaking) admitted to our ICU over the 6-month period from April 2017 to September 2017 were surveyed within 24 hours of ICU discharge. Patient-perceived discomfort was measured using the translated IPREA questionnaire. The patients were asked to score their discomfort for each of 16 items on a scale of 0 (no discomfort) to 100 (maximum discomfort). An overall discomfort score was computed as the mean score of the 16 individual discomfort scores. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify predictors of discomfort. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Translated questionnaire internal consistency. Individual and overall discomfort scores. RESULTS: A total of 168 patients (58% men; mean age, 60.1 ± 14.8 years; mean APACHE [Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation] II score, 13.8 ± 5.6) completed the questionnaire. The translated questionnaire had good internal consistency (Cronbach's α, 0.82), and good content and construct validity (average inter-item correlation, 0.23). The mean overall discomfort score was 18.4 ± 12.5, and discomfort scores did not differ between men and women or between types of ICUs (general ICU, cardiothoracic ICU or high dependency unit). On multivariate analysis, increasing age was an independent predictor of a low discomfort score (ß, -0.27; 95% CI, -0.42 to -0.12; P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Patients admitted to our ICU reported low overall discomfort. There was an inverse relationship between age and perceived discomfort. The translated questionnaire for measuring discomfort performed well in our setting and could be applied to the Australian population.