Consensus guidelines on analgesia and sedation in dying intensive care unit patients

Title

Consensus guidelines on analgesia and sedation in dying intensive care unit patients

Creator

Hawryluck LA; Harvey WR; Lemieux-Charles L; Singer PA

Publisher

Bmc Medical Ethics

Date

2002

Subject

Humans; Intensive Care Units; Terminally Ill; Consensus; Euthanasia; Suicide; Stress; Empirical Approach; Death and Euthanasia; Practice Guidelines; Pain/drug therapy; Active; Hypnotics and Sedatives/therapeutic use; Assisted; Terminal Care/standards; Psychological/drug therapy; Analgesics/therapeutic use; Palliative Care/methods/standards

Description

BACKGROUND: Intensivists must provide enough analgesia and sedation to ensure dying patients receive good palliative care. However, if it is perceived that too much is given, they risk prosecution for committing euthanasia. The goal of this study is to develop consensus guidelines on analgesia and sedation in dying intensive care unit patients that help distinguish palliative care from euthanasia. METHODS: Using the Delphi technique, panelists rated levels of agreement with statements describing how analgesics and sedatives should be given to dying ICU patients and how palliative care should be distinguished from euthanasia. Participants were drawn from 3 panels: 1) Canadian Academic Adult Intensive Care Fellowship program directors and Intensive Care division chiefs (N = 9); 2) Deputy chief provincial coroners (N = 5); 3) Validation panel of Intensivists attending the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group meeting (N = 12). RESULTS: After three Delphi rounds, consensus was achieved on 16 statements encompassing the role of palliative care in the intensive care unit, the management of pain and suffering, current areas of controversy, and ways of improving palliative care in the ICU. CONCLUSION: Consensus guidelines were developed to guide the administration of analgesics and sedatives to dying ICU patients and to help distinguish palliative care from euthanasia.
2002

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Type

Journal Article

Citation List Month

Backlog

Citation

Hawryluck LA; Harvey WR; Lemieux-Charles L; Singer PA, “Consensus guidelines on analgesia and sedation in dying intensive care unit patients,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 29, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/12707.