ABSTRACT
The rise in intensive care treatment procedures is accompanied by an increase in the complexity of decisions regarding the selection, administration and duration of treatment measures. Whether a treatment goal is desirable in an individual case and the treatment plan required to achieve it is acceptable for the patient depends on the patient's preferences, values and life plans. There is often uncertainty as to whether a patient-centered treatment goal can be achieved. The use of a time-limited treatment trial (TLT) as a binding agreement between the intensive care unit (ICU) team and the patient or their legal representative on a treatment concept over a defined period of time in the ICU can be helpful to reduce uncertainties and to ensure the continuation of intensive care measures in the patients' best interest.
Subject(s)
Intensive Care Units , Humans , Germany , Intensive Care Units/ethics , Critical Care/ethics , Interdisciplinary Communication , Patient Preference , Medical Futility/ethics , Medical Futility/legislation & jurisprudence , Intersectoral CollaborationABSTRACT
The process recommendations of the Ethics Section of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) for ethically based decision-making in intensive care medicine are intended to create the framework for a structured procedure for seriously ill patients in intensive care. The processes require appropriate structures, e.g., for effective communication within the treatment team, with patients and relatives, legal representatives, as well as the availability of palliative medical expertise, ethical advisory committees and integrated psychosocial and spiritual care services. If the necessary competences and structures are not available in a facility, they can be consulted externally or by telemedicine if necessary. The present recommendations are based on an expert consensus and are not the result of a systematic review or a meta-analysis.
Subject(s)
Critical Care , Decision Making , Emergency Medicine , Humans , Critical Care/standards , Emergency Medicine/standards , Telemedicine , GermanyABSTRACT
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is increasingly used in COVID-19-related pulmonary failure and the number of patients recovering from COVID-19 is growing. Here, we assess survival and recovery 6 months after ECMO for COVID-19. From April 2020 to September 2021, n = 60 (60.5 [51.0-65.0] years, 23.3% female) were treated with venovenous/venoarterial ECMO for COVID-19. 41.7% were weaned off ECMO, survival-to-discharge was 40.0% (n = 24). Age (63.0 [60.0-66.8] vs. 55.0 [43.8-60.0] years, p < 0.001), vasoactive support (97.2% vs . 75.0%, p = 0.013), and pre-ECMO SOFA scores (13.0 [12.0-14.8] vs. 12.0 [10.0-13.8] p = 0.036) correlated with nonsurvival. All patients aged >65 years, with histories of neoplasia, immunocompromise, chronic renal failure, or frailty died. After 6 months, 20 were alive (6-month survival 33.3%, survival conditioned on survival-to-discharge 83.3%), with follow-up in 19. 57.9% showed no relevant, 26.3% moderate, 15.8% severe deficits. Cardiopulmonary status was satisfactory (mMRC level: 84.2% ≤2). 73.7% were independent in daily life. Cognitive impairments were frequent (52.6%). 26.3% showed moderate depression, 15.8% posttraumatic stress disorder. Social and work life were considerably affected. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation thus can serve as salvage therapy in COVID-19, but advanced age, immunocompromise, histories of neoplasia, and frailty must be considered as relative contraindications. Age, vasoactive support, and SOFA scores assist discriminating in daily practice. Deficits after 6 months are substantial, and efforts need to focus on long-term recovery.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation , Frailty , Respiratory Insufficiency , Humans , Female , Male , Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation/adverse effects , Quality of Life , Functional Status , COVID-19/complications , COVID-19/therapy , Respiratory Insufficiency/therapy , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
The treatment situation in intensive care is characterised by a specific asymmetry in the relationship between patients and the team: Patients are particularly dependent on their environment and often show impaired consciousness and capacity to consent. This facilitates the use of coercion or enables and/or provokes it. The aim of this recommendation is to show ways to recognise patients with their wishes and needs and to integrate them into treatment concepts in the intensive care unit in order to reduce and avoid coercion whenever possible. The recommendation shows the variety of possible forms of coercion and discusses the moral standards to be considered in the ethical weighing process as well as legal conditions for justifying its use. It becomes obvious that treatment measures which may involve the use of coercion always require a careful and self-critical review of the measures in relation to the indication and the therapeutic goal. The recommendation's intention therefore is not to disapprove the use of coercion by interprofessional teams. Instead, it aims to contribute to a sensitive perception of coercion and to a critical and caring approach to formal and especially informal (indirect) coercion.
