Effect of a person-centred goals-of-care form and clinical communication training on shared decision-making and outcomes in an acute hospital: a prospective longitudinal interventional study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with a life-limiting illness (LLI) requiring hospitalisation have a high likelihood of deterioration and 12-month mortality. To avoid non-aligned care, we need to understand our patients' goals and values. AIM: To describe the association between the implementation of a shared decision-making (SDM) programme and documentation of goals of care (GoC) for hospitalised patients with LLI. METHODS: A prospective longitudinal interventional study of patients admitted to acute general medicine wards in an Australian tertiary hospital over 5 years was conducted. A SDM programme with a new GoC form, communication training and clinical support was implemented. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a documented person-centred GoC discussion (PCD). Clinical outcomes included hospital utilisation and 90-day mortality. RESULTS: 1343 patients were included. The proportion of patients with PCDs increased from 0% to 35.4% (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 2.38; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.01-2.82; P < 0.001). During this time, median hospital length of stay decreased from 8 days (interquartile range (IQR), 4-14) to 6 days (IQR, 3-11) (adjusted estimate effect, -0.38; 95% CI, -0.64 to -0.11; P = 0.005) and rapid response team activation from 28% to 13% (aOR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.78-0.97; P value = 0.01). Documented treatment preference of high-dependency unit care decreased from 39.7% to 24.4% (aOR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.73-0.89; P value < 0.001), and ward-based care increased from 31.9% to 55.1% (aOR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.14-1.36; P value < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The implementation of a SDM programme was associated with increased documentation of person-centred GoC, changed patient treatment preference to lower intensity care and reduced hospital utilisation.

Continuous gastric decompression for postoperative nausea and vomiting after coronary revascularization surgery.

Postoperative nausea and vomiting is common after cardiac surgery and may contribute to significant morbidity. Gastric decompression during anesthesia has been used for postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis in shorter duration noncardiac surgery with conflicting results. We tested the hypothesis that gastric decompression during elective coronary revascularization surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and continued afterwards until tracheal extubation would reduce the incidence of vomiting or retching and nausea. In a prospective, randomized, cohort study, 104 patients with at least 2 Apfel's risk factors for postoperative nausea and vomiting were allocated to receive a gastric tube on free gravity drainage after induction of anesthesia (n = 52) or to a control group (n = 52). The gastric tube was removed simultaneously with tracheal extubation postoperatively. The primary outcome measure was the incidence of vomiting or retching. Secondary outcomes included the incidence and severity of nausea measured on a visual analog scale. The incidence of vomiting or retching was 13.4% in patients with gastric decompression, compared with 11.5% in the control group (P = 0.7). Similarly, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the incidence of nausea (32.7% versus 25.0%, P = 0.6), median severity of nausea on a visual analog scale at 12 h (25; range, 0-55 mm versus 30; range, 0-60 mm, P = 0.4), or antiemetics administration (38.5% versus 28.8%, P = 0.3). Continuous gastric decompression during coronary revascularization surgery and afterwards until tracheal extubation did not reduce the incidence of vomiting or retching or the incidence and severity of nausea in these patients.