Abstract
Abstract
Background:
Involvement of the palliative care service has potential for patient and family benefit in critically ill patients, regardless of etiology. Anecdotally, there is a lack of involvement of the palliative care (PC) service in the neuro-intensive care unit (neuro-ICU), and its impact has not been rigorously investigated in this setting.
Objective:
This study aims at assessing the effect of early involvement of the PC service on end-of-life care in the neuro-ICU.
Design:
Demographic variables and elements pertaining to the end-of-life care were obtained retrospectively via the electronic medical record from patients receiving their care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital neuro-ICU. The patient population was divided into two cohorts: patients who received PC services and patients who did not. Contingency analysis was performed to assess for associations with PC service involvement.
Results:
A total of 149 patients were included in the study. PC services were included in 56.4% of the cases. Involvement of the PC service led to more code status changes to comfort care–do-not-resuscitate p = 0.0021. This was more often a decremental change to less invasive measures rather than a direct change from full code to comfort care measures (p = 0.026). When PC specialists were involved, medications to treat anxiety/agitation, dyspnea/pain, and respiratory secretions were utilized more frequently (p < 0.001) and fewer procedures were performed on these critically ill patients within 48 hours of death (p < 0.001).
Conclusion:
Early involvement of the PC service has an impact on adjusting the treatment paradigm for patients suffering from devastating neurologic injuries. We recommend the creation of a standardized protocol to ensure early PC consultation in the neuro-ICU based on initial patient presentation parameters, imaging characteristics, and prognosis.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.