PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 428 - 6 Sep 2003

ICU intervention affects caredecisions

An intervention designed to identify and reduceconflict in decision-making for patients in ICUs had noeffect on patient/surrogate satisfaction with care, but didsignificantly effect decisions regarding a specific careplan, found US-based researchers.

Social workers conducted interviews with 873 ICUpatients or their surrogates, and provided feedback onpreferences and concerns to a clinical team, who thenintroduced measures to address the issues identified.Regression analysis showed that the intervention wasnot associated with a significant change in patient/surrogate ratings of satisfaction with care. However, theintervention did significantly increase the probability ofdeciding to forego resuscitation, the likelihood ofchoosing to give comfort care only, and the likelihood ofchoosing to treat the patient aggressively, note theresearchers.Burns JP, et al. Results of a clinical trial on care improvement for the critically ill.Critical Care Medicine 31: 2107-2117, No. 8, Aug 2003 800943268

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 6 Sep 2003 No. 4281173-5503/10/0428-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved