Timing is everything: Early do-not-resuscitate orders in the intensive care unit and patient outcomes.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:The use of Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) orders has increased but many are placed late in the dying process. This study is to determine the association between the timing of DNR order placement in the intensive care unit (ICU) and nurses' perceptions of patients' distress and quality of death. METHODS:200 ICU patients and the nurses (n = 83) who took care of them during their last week of life were enrolled from the medical ICU and cardiac care unit of New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan and the surgical ICU at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Nurses were interviewed about their perceptions of the patients' quality of death using validated measures. Patients were divided into 3 groups-no DNR, early DNR, late DNR placement during the patient's

SUBMITTER: Ouyang DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7028295 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature