Variability in physician opinion on limiting pediatric life support

Title

Variability in physician opinion on limiting pediatric life support

Creator

Randolph AG; Zollo MB; Egger MJ; Guyatt GH; Nelson RM; Stidham GL

Publisher

Pediatrics

Date

1999

Subject

Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Male; Intensive Care Units; Medical Staff; Prognosis; Questionnaires; Euthanasia; Fellowships and Scholarships; Regression Analysis; Pediatric; Empirical Approach; Death and Euthanasia; decision making; Pediatrics/statistics & numerical data; ICU Decision Making; Neoplasms/therapy; Terminal Care/psychology; Passive/psychology; Intensive Care/psychology; Hospital/psychology/statistics & numerical data; Medical Oncology/statistics & numerical data

Description

OBJECTIVE: We conducted this study to investigate how physicians in a pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) currently make decisions to withdraw and withhold life support. Consultation with the patient's primary caregiver often precedes decisions about withdrawal and limitation of life support in chronically ill patients. In these scenarios, the patient's primary caregiver was the pediatric oncologist. To evaluate the influence of subspecialty training, we compared the attitudes of the pediatric intensivists and the oncologists using scenarios describing critically ill oncology patients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. Each physician was randomly assigned 4 of 8 potential case scenarios. SETTING: A total of 29 American pediatric ICUs. PARTICIPANTS: Pediatric intensive care and oncology attendings and fellows. INTERVENTION: Systematic manipulation of patient characteristics in two hypothetical case scenarios describing 6-year-old female oncology patients presenting to the ICU after the institution of mechanical ventilator support for acute respiratory failure. Cases 1 through 4 described a patient who, before admission, had a 99% projected 1-year probability of survival from her underlying cancer and suffered from severe neurologic disabilities. Cases 5 through 8 described a patient who was neurologically normal before admission and had a /=10% of respondents chose full aggressive management as the most appropriate level of care, whereas another >/=10% chose comfort measures only when viewing the same scenario. The most significant respondent factors affecting choices were professional status (attending vs fellow) and the self-rated importance of functional neurologic status. The majority of respondents (83%) believed that the intensive care and the oncology staff were usually in agreement at their institution about the level of intervention to recommend to the parents. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)
1999

Rights

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Type

Journal Article

Citation List Month

Backlog

Citation

Randolph AG; Zollo MB; Egger MJ; Guyatt GH; Nelson RM; Stidham GL, “Variability in physician opinion on limiting pediatric life support,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 19, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/11784.