A prospective determination of the incidence of perceived inappropriate care in critically ill patients.

Background: Health care providers' perceptions regarding appropriateness in end-of-life treatments have been widely studied. While nurses and physicians believe that rationing and other cost-related practices sometimes occur in the intensive care unit (ICU), they allege that treatment is often excessive.

Objective: To prospectively determine the incidence and causes of health care providers' perceptions regarding appropriateness of end-of-life treatments.