Assessing physicians' and nurses' experience of dying and death in the ICU: development of the CAESAR-P and the CAESAR-N instruments.

Background: As an increasing number of deaths occur in the intensive care unit (ICU), studies have sought to describe, understand, and improve end-of-life care in this setting. Most of these studies are centered on the patient's and/or the relatives' experience. Our study aimed to develop an instrument designed to assess the experience of physicians and nurses of patients who died in the ICU, using a mixed methodology and validated in a prospective multicenter study.

Questions to improve family-staff communication in the ICU: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: Relatives of intensive care unit (ICU) patients suffer emotional distress that impairs their ability to acquire the information they need from the staff. We sought to evaluate whether providing relatives with a list of important questions was associated with better comprehension on day 5.

Methods: Randomized, parallel-group trial.

Closed loop ventilation mode in Intensive Care Unit: a randomized controlled clinical trial comparing the numbers of manual ventilator setting changes.

Background: There is an equipoise regarding closed-loop ventilation modes and the ability to reduce workload for providers. On one hand some settings are managed by the ventilator but on another hand the automatic mode introduces new settings for the user.

Methods: This randomized controlled trial compared the number of manual ventilator setting changes between a full closed loop ventilation and oxygenation mode (INTELLiVENT-ASV®) and conventional ventilation modes (volume assist control and pressure support) in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients.

Causes and Characteristics of Death in Intensive Care Units: A Prospective Multicenter Study.

Background: Different modes of death are described in selected populations, but few data report the characteristics of death in a general intensive care unit population. This study analyzed the causes and characteristics of death of critically ill patients and compared anticipated death patients to unexpected death counterparts.

Methods: An observational multicenter cohort study was performed in 96 intensive care units.

CAESAR: a new tool to assess relatives' experience of dying and death in the ICU.

Purpose: To develop an instrument designed specifically to assess the experience of relatives of patients who die in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: The instrument was developed using a mixed methodology and validated in a prospective multicentre study. Relatives of patients who died in 41 ICUs completed the questionnaire by telephone 21 days after the death, then completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Impact of Event Scale-Revised and Inventory of Complicated Grief after 3, 6, and 12 months.