Recommendations to limit life support: a national survey of critical care physicians.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

There is debate about whether physicians should routinely provide patient surrogates with recommendations about limiting life support.

Objectives

To explore physicians' self-reported practices and attitudes.

Methods

A cross-sectional, stratified survey of 1,000 randomly selected US critical care physicians was mailed. We included a vignette to experimentally examine how surrogate desire for a recommendation and physician agreement with the surrogate modified whether physicians would provide a recommendation.

Measurements and main results

Proportion of respondents reporting they routinely provide surrogates with a recommendation and how responses varied based on vignette characteristics. A total of 608 (66%) of 922 eligible physicians participated. App

SUBMITTER: Brush DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3480524 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature