Limitação de Suporte Avançado de Vida em pacientes admitidos em unidade de terapia intensiva com cuidados paliativos integrados / Limitation to Advanced Life Support in patients admitted to intensive care unit with integrated palliative care

RESUMO Objetivo: Estimar a incidência de limitação de Suporte Avançado de Vida em pacientes graves internados em unidade de terapia intensiva com cuidados paliativos integrados. Métodos: Estudo de coorte retrospectivo, no qual foram incluídos os pacientes inseridos no programa de cuidados paliativos da unidade de terapia intensiva do Hospital Paulistano, maiores de 18 anos de idade, no período de 1º de maio de 2011 a 31 de janeiro de 2014. As limitações de Suporte Avançado de Vida analisadas foram: ordem para não ressuscitar, ventilação mecânica, hemodiálise e droga vasoativa. Para as variáveis quantitativas, foram calculadas medidas de tendência central. O teste qui quadrado foi utilizado para comparar características dos pacientes com ou sem limitação de Suporte Avançado de Vida e teste de Wilcoxon, para comparar o tempo de internação após Suporte Avançado de Vida. Para significância estatística, consideraram-se o intervalo de confiança e p ≤ 0,05. Resultados: Foram internados na unidade de terapia intensiva 3.487 pacientes, sendo 342 inseridos no programa de cuidados paliativos. Observou-se que, após entrada no programa de cuidados paliativos, demorou uma mediana de 2 (1 - 4) dias para o óbito na unidade de terapia intensiva e 4 (2 - 11) dias para óbito hospitalar. Boa parte das limitações de Suporte Avançado de Vida (42,7%) aconteceu no primeiro dia de internação. A ressuscitação cardiopulmonar (96,8%) e o suporte ventilatório (73,6%) foram as limitações mais adotadas. Conclusão: Foi relevante a contribuição dos cuidados paliativos integrados à unidade de terapia intensiva para a prática da ortotanásia, ou seja, o não prolongamento da vida de um paciente terminal por meios artificiais.

ABSTRACT Objective: To estimate the incidence of limitations to Advanced Life Support in critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit with integrated palliative care. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients in the palliative care program of the intensive care unit of Hospital Paulistano over 18 years of age from May 1, 2011, to January 31, 2014. The limitations to Advanced Life Support that were analyzed included do-not-resuscitate orders, mechanical ventilation, dialysis and vasoactive drugs. Central tendency measures were calculated for quantitative variables. The chi-squared test was used to compare the characteristics of patients with or without limits to Advanced Life Support, and the Wilcoxon test was used to compare length of stay after Advanced Life Support. Confidence intervals reflecting p ≤ 0.05 were considered for statistical significance. Results: A total of 3,487 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, of whom 342 were included in the palliative care program. It was observed that after entering the palliative care program, it took a median of 2 (1 - 4) days for death to occur in the intensive care unit and 4 (2 - 11) days for hospital death to occur. Many of the limitations to Advanced Life Support (42.7%) took place on the first day of hospitalization. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (96.8%) and ventilatory support (73.6%) were the most adopted limitations. Conclusion: The contribution of palliative care integrated into the intensive care unit was important for the practice of orthothanasia, i.e., the non-extension of the life of a critically ill patient by artificial means.

End of life in the neonatal intensive care unit

PURPOSE: Death at the beginning of life is tragic but not uncommon in neonatal intensive care units. In Portugal, few studies have examined the circumstances surrounding the final moments of neonates. We evaluated the care given to neonates and their families in terminal situations and the changes that had occurred one decade later. DESIGN AND METHODS: We analyzed 256 charts in a retrospective chart review of neonatal deaths between two periods (1992-1995 and 2002-2005) in a level III neonatal intensive care unit. RESULTS: Our results show differences in the care of dying infants between the two periods. The analysis of the 2002-2005 cohort four years revealed more withholding and withdrawing of therapeutic activities and more effective pain and distress relief; however, on the final day of life, 95.7 percent of the infants received invasive ventilatory support, 76.3 percent received antibiotics, 58.1 percent received inotropics, and 25.8 percent received no opioid or sedative administration. The 2002-2005 cohort had more spiritual advisor solicitation, a higher number of relatives with permission to freely visit and more clinical meetings with neonatologists. Interventions by parents, healthcare providers and ethics committees during decision-making were not documented in any of the charts. Only eight written orders regarding therapeutic limitations and the adoption of palliative care were documented; seven (87.5 percent) were from the 2002-2005 cohort. Parental presence during death was more frequent in the latter four years (2002-2005 cohort), but only 21.5 percent of the parents wanted to be present at that moment. CONCLUSION: Despite an increase in the withholding and withdrawing of therapeutic activities and improvements in pain management and family support, many neonates still receive curative and aggressive practices at the end of life.

La muerte en un servicio de terapia intensiva: influencia de la abstencion y retiro del soporte vital / Death in an intensive care unit: influence of life support withholding and withdrawal

Se estudió la influencia de la abstención y retiro del soporte vital en la muerte ocurrida en un servicio de Terapia Intensiva durante un período de 32 meses. Sobre 2640 pacientes ingresados se registró la conducta terapéutica en 548 muertos, clasificando la misma en cinco categorías: (i) tratamiento completo, (ii) tratamiento completo con orden de no resucitación (ONR), (iii) abstención de soporte vital, (iv) retiro de soporte vital y (v) muerte cerebral. Hubo limitación terapéutica de soporte vital en el 45.6% (n= 250) con unpredominio importante de la abstención (ONR y abstención) en el 32.6% respecto del retiro de soporte vital (8.2%). Del estudio comparativo con otras estadísticas surge el hallazgo de un porcentaje global de limitación terapéutica media cercana a comunidades con una cultura similar, aunque con una incidencia de retiro (8.2%) manifiestamente inferior a la registrada en todos los países cualesquiera fuera su actitud frente a la necesidad de establecer diversos grados de control sobre el recurso tecnológico en el paciente crítico. Deberá indagarse la influencia que tiene la percepción moral del dejar de actuar, como un proceder inconveniente en nuestra sociedad, en los resultados observados.

The influence of life support withholding and withdrawal on the deaths which occurred in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) over a period of 32 months was analysed. Of 2640 patients admitted in ICU, one of the following five mutually exclusive categories was registered on the 548 patients who died: (i) complete treatment; (ii) complete treatment with non-resuscitation order (NRO); (iii) withholding of life-sustaining treatment; (iv) withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment; and (v) brain death. There was therapeutic limitation of life support in 45.6% of cases (n=250), with an important majority of withholding (NRO and withholding) in 32.6% of cases, in comparison to withdrawal of life support (8.2% of cases). The comparative analysis with other statistic information suggests the existence of a similar global therapeutic limitation mean in communities with similar cultural background, even if there is a lower influence of life support withdrawal (8.2%) when compared to other countries regardless of their attitude towards the need to establish different degrees of control over technological resources applied to the critically ill. Further research should analyze the influence that moral perception of withdrawal as inconvenient in our society, has over our findings.

Ingreso de pacientes irrecuperables en Terapia Intensiva, no aplicación y suspención de métodos de soporte vital: análisis de una encuesta de opinión / Admission of unrecoverable patients in Intensive Care, non application and suspension of methods of vital supports: analysis of an opinion survey

Las áreas críticas de atención médica, como las unidades de terapia intensiva (UTI), constituyen el escenario clínico donde se aplican métodos invasivos de soporte vital y maniobras de reanimación cardiopulmonar en pacientes cuya recuperabilidad potencial no se evalúa inicialmente. En éste trabajo se analiza una encuesta de opinión efectuada a 93 médicos no especialistas en terapia intensiva sobre el ingreso de pacientes irrecuperables a UTI, la necesidad de limitar el tratamiento a pacientes terminales y ciertos determinantes de la conducta médica en éstas circunstancias. Los resultados indicaron que la presencia frecuente de pacientes irrecuperables en UTI se debe fundamentalmente a exigencias familiares y la carencia de áreas asistenciales adecuadas para la contención del enfermo terminal, circunstancias que pueden favorecer el encarnizamiento terapeútico y la prolongación indefinida de la vida vegetativa. El acuerdo de los médicos en el establecimiento de límites en la atención médica de pacientes irrecuperables parece tener como factores determinantes la desprotección legal de nuestro país para el ejercicio de éstas prácticas y la falta de consenso social sobre éstos temas. El universo médico encuestado no visualiza como equivalentes moralmente la decisión de no actuar respecto de la de dejar de actuar