Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of the family conference participants
| Patients (n=51) | Family Members (n=169)+ | Physicians Leading Conferences (n=35)++ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conferences without unresolved questions (n=45) | Conferences with unresolved questions (n=6) | Conferences without unresolved questions (n=150) | Conferences with unresolved questions (n=19) | Conferences without unresolved questions (n=29) | Conferences with unresolved questions (n=6) | |
| # Female (%) | 28 (51) | 4 (67) | 88 (59) | 13 (68) | 9 (31) | 3 (50) |
| # Nonwhite (%) | 8 (18) | 3 (50) | 22 (15)* | 7 (37)* | 4 (14) | 1 (17) |
| Mean age (sd) | 59.0 (20.5) | 67.4 (19.3) | 48.3 (15.8) | 48.5 (15.9) | 39.1 (10.1) | 34.7 (4.6) |
| Mean years in practice (sd) | -- | -- | -- | -- | 13.0 (10.9) | 8.7 (5.3) |
| # Diagnoses (%) | ||||||
| Intracranial hemorrhage | 6 (13.3) | 3 (50.0) | ||||
| Endstage liver disease or GI bleed | 8 (17.8) | 0 | ||||
| Trauma | 8 (17.8) | 0 | ||||
| Sepsis | 7 (15.6) | 0 | ||||
| Respiratory failure | 4 (8.9) | 2 (33.3) | ||||
| Cardiac failure | 4 (8.9) | 1 (16.7) | ||||
| Other | 8 (17.8) | 0 | ||||
+
169/227 participating family members completed questionnaires on which these data are based
++
35/36 participating physicians completed questionnaires on which these data are based
*
p <=0.05