Palliative Care in Survivors of Critical Illness: A Qualitative Study of Post-Intensive Care Unit Program Clinicians.

Survivors of critical illness experience high rates of serious health-related suffering. The delivery of palliative care may assist in decreasing this burden for survivors and their families. To understand beliefs, attitudes, and experiences of post-intensive care unit (ICU) program clinicians regarding palliative care and explore barriers and facilitators to incorporating palliative care into critical illness survivorship care.

Association Between Shared Decision-Making During Family Meetings and Surrogates' Trust in Their ICU Physician.

Background: Although trust is central to successful physician-family relationships in ICUs, little is known about how to promote surrogates' trust of ICU physicians in this setting.

Research Question: Does the conduct of family conferences and physicians' use of shared decision-making (SDM) within family conferences impact surrogates' trust in the physician?

Study Design And Methods: A mixed-methods secondary analysis was done of a multicenter prospective cohort study of 369 surrogate decision-makers of 204 decisionally incapacitated patients at high risk of death or severe functional impairment within 13 ICUs at six US medical centers between 2008 and 2012. Surrogates completed the Abbreviated Wake Forest Physician Trust Scale (range, 5-25) before and after an audio-recorded family conference conducted within 5 days of ICU admission.