Enhancing & Mobilizing the POtential for Wellness & Emotional Resilience (EMPOWER) among Surrogate Decision-Makers of ICU Patients: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Critical illness increases the risk for poor mental health outcomes among both patients and their informal caregivers, especially their surrogate decision-makers. Surrogates who must make life-and-death medical decisions on behalf of incapacitated patients may experience additional distress. EMPOWER (Enhancing & Mobilizing the POtential for Wellness & Emotional Resilience) is a novel cognitive-behavioral, acceptance-based intervention delivered in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting to surrogate decision-makers designed to improve both patients' quality of life and death and dying as well as surrogates' mental health.

Attitudes Toward Individuals With Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders Among Resident Physicians.

Objective: Resident physicians frequently provide care for individuals diagnosed with mental illness and substance use disorders (SUDs). Clinicians-including psychiatrists and addiction professionals-have been shown to possess negative attitudes toward these individuals, which is concerning since negative attitudes may have an adverse impact on patient engagement, treatment, and outcomes. However, little is known about resident physicians' attitudes toward individuals with mental illness and SUDs.

Assessing Decision Making Capacity for Do Not Resuscitate Requests in Depressed Patients: How to Apply the "Communication" and "Appreciation" Criteria.

The Patient Self Determination Act (PSDA) of 1991 brought much needed attention to the importance of advance care planning and surrogate decision-making. The purpose of this law is to ensure that a patient's preferences for medical care are recognized and promoted, even if the patient loses decision-making capacity (DMC). In general, patients are presumed to have DMC.

Donors in chains: psychosocial outcomes of kidney donors in paired exchange.

Background: Kidney paired donation chains are initiated by nondirected donors and propagated by donors within the chain of transplants, or chain donors.

Objective: To compare psychosocial and functional outcomes, and to test coercion, of chain donors in paired exchange versus traditional directed donors who have an established relationship with the recipient.

Methods: Thirty chain donors from a transplant center who were part of the National Kidney Registry paired exchange program were compared with 34 traditional donors who donated around the same time.