Critical Care
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Early Communication Can Establish Goals of Care Boundaries
When clinicians initiate the conversation, there can be a better understanding about the wishes of seriously ill patients.
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Advance Care Planning Can Lower Odds of Aggressive End-of-Life Treatment
Advance care planning was associated with significantly lower odds of indicators of aggressive end-of-life care (i.e., hospital death, hospital admissions, intensive care, delayed hospice referrals, and chemotherapy). Cancer patients who engaged in advance care planning were 50% more likely to complete Do Not Resuscitate orders compared to cancer patients without an advance directive.
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Is Death Imminent? Conflicts Occur if Clinicians Do Not Make It Clear
Poor communication on prognosis prevents the family from making decisions based on the true situation. If surrogates do not realize death is imminent, they cannot plan for hospice care or contact family members to be there for the patient’s last moments.
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Ethical End-of-Life Care for Homeless Patients
Clinicians should acknowledge their own potential bias and avoid using language in the medical record that is stigmatizing. Also, they can request an ethics consult before making any decision to not provide care for a patient experiencing homelessness.
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Do Race and Ethnicity Affect the Likelihood of ICU Admission?
Patients who identify with racial or ethnic minority groups and present with sepsis or acute respiratory failure are more likely to be admitted to the ICU when compared to white patients.
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American Heart Association Urges Improvement in Stroke Care
In a scientific statement, the group offered tactics to eliminate the racial and ethnic inequities that exist in stroke incidence, prevalence, treatment, and outcomes.
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Management of COPD Exacerbations in the ICU: What’s New?
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations continue to negatively affect health status, including disease progression and mortality, making optimization of the critically ill COPD patient imperative.
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Flow Settings During High-Flow Nasal Cannula Oxygen Therapy
This article intends to examine the impact of flow settings in adult patients for various clinical conditions.
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New Ethical Guidance on End-of-Life Nutrition Therapy
The guidance is intended to help clinicians understand what medically assisted nutrition and hydration can and cannot accomplish for different groups of patients.
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Ethicists Can Resolve Conflicts Over Nutrition Therapy at End of Life
When deciding whether to administer, withhold, or withdraw end-of-life nutrition and hydration therapy, ethicists can help clinicians, patients, and families reach an equitable agreement.