The attitudes of religious group leaders towards xenotransplantation: A focus group study.

Clinical trials of xenotransplantation (XTx) may start in coming years. Religious views have been mentioned as possible barriers to XTx acceptance. While there have been reports on perspectives of theologians in regard to XTx, no report has studied the perspectives of community religious leaders. A focus group was conducted with a sample of members of the following faith groups: Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Qualitative content analysis was performed to identify interpretive themes. Four themes emerged. Participants were receptive to the idea of XTx and expressed no religious barriers to accepting a pig xenograft as a lifesaving therapy but did express certain concerns. Religious leaders accept the idea of XTx and do not see it as contradictory to their beliefs. However, some concerns were raised. Future studies addressing these concerns and exploring the potential role of religious leaders in educating the community on XTx are needed.

Paediatric xenotransplantation clinical trials and the right to withdraw.

Clinical trials of xenotransplantation (XTx) may begin early in the next decade, with kidneys from genetically modified pigs transplanted into adult humans. If successful, transplanting pig hearts into children with advanced heart failure may be the next step. Typically, clinical trials have a specified end date, and participants are aware of the amount of time they will be in the study. This is not so with XTx. The current ethical consensus is that XTx recipients must consent to lifelong monitoring. While this presents challenges to the right to withdraw in the adult population, additional and unanswered questions also linger in the paediatric population. In paediatric XTx, parents or guardians consent not only to the initial treatment of the child but also to lifelong monitoring, thus making a decision whose consequences will remain present as the child develops the capacity for assent, and finally the capacity for informed consent or refusal. This article presents and evaluates unanswered paediatric ethical questions in regard to the right to withdraw from XTx follow-up in the paediatric population.

Patient Beliefs and Preferences Regarding Surrogate Decision Makers.

OBJECTIVES: Many patients lose the capacity to make medical decisions because of severe illness or the effects of sedation or anesthesia. Most states in the United States designate the next of kin (NOK) as a default surrogate decision maker (SDM), but this may not always reflect patient preferences. Our objective was to determine how frequently the default SDM matched the patient's preferred SDM, and whether patients knew who would serve as their SDM should they become incapacitated. METHODS: We used a cross-sectional survey to determine whom patients believed would make decisions on their behalf, patients' relationship to their preferred SDM, how frequently their NOK was their preferred SDM, and how frequently patients' beliefs about SDM determination were accurate. RESULTS: In total, 18% of patients believed that someone other than their NOK would be asked to make decisions for them; 20.3% of all participants, and 9.3% of married participants, identified someone other than their NOK as their preferred SDM. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial proportion of patients are unaware that someone other than their preferred SDM may be asked to make decisions for them. Providers should explicitly ask patients about their preferences, including whom the patient's preferred SDM would be, and should encourage the patient to designate a healthcare proxy when his or her preferred SDM is not the default SDM designated by local law. Although there are inherent problems with using SDMs, using the person preferred by the patient should result in a greater chance of following the patient's wishes for medical treatment.

Caring for people with dementia in residential aged care: successes with a composite person-centered care model featuring Montessori-based activities.

Person-centered models of dementia care commonly merge aspects of existing models with additional influences from published and unpublished evidence and existing government policy. This study reports on the development and evaluation of one such composite model of person-centered dementia care, the ABLE model. The model was based on building the capacity and ability of residents living with dementia, using environmental changes, staff education and organizational and community engagement. Montessori principles were also used. The evaluation of the model employed mixed methods. Significant behavior changes were evident among residents of the dementia care Unit after the model was introduced, as were reductions in anti-psychotic and sedative medication. Staff reported increased knowledge about meeting the needs of people with dementia, and experienced organizational culture change that supported the ABLE model of care. Families were very satisfied with the changes.