Table 1.
Characteristics of patients receiving ICU-based palliative care consults
| Characteristic | ICU Patients (n=254) |
|---|---|
| Age | |
| Mean (SD), years | 67.5 (17.3) |
| Missing | 27 |
| Gender | |
| Female | 124 (51.5%) |
| Missing | 13 |
| Race | |
| African American | 55 (21.7%) |
| White | 180 (70.9%) |
| Other | 10 (3.9%) |
| Unknown | 9 |
| Primary Diagnosis^ | |
| Neurologic Disease | 72 (28.3%) |
| Cardiovascular Disease | 46 (18.1%) |
| Cancer | 44 (17.3%) |
| Pulmonary Disease | 38 (15.0%) |
| Infectious Disease | 12 (4.7%) |
| Gastrointestinal Disease | 8 (3.1%) |
| Other Diagnosis | 28 (11.0%) |
| Reason for Consultation | |
| Setting Palliative Goals of Care | 89 (38.5%) |
| Symptom Management | 75 (32.5%) |
| End-of-Life Transition | 56 (24.2%) |
| Withdrawal of life-prolonging therapies | 9 (3.9%) |
| Advance Directives/Code Discussion | 1 (0.4%) |
| Discuss interventions (e.g. artificial nutrition, PEG, tracheostomy) | 1 (0.4%) |
| Missing | 23 |
| Palliative Performance Scale* | |
| Poor (0–30%) | 93 (74.4%) |
| Moderate (40–60%) | 28 (22.4%) |
| Good (70–100%) | 4 (3.2%) |
| Missing | 129 |
| Patient- or Proxy Reported Quality of Life | |
| Poor | 19 (39.6%) |
| Good/Fair | 29 (60.4%) |
| Missing | 132 |
| Clinician-Estimated Prognosis | |
| <6 months | 106 (95.5%) |
| >6 months | 5 (4.5%) |
| Unknown | 20 |
| Missing | 123 |
| CPR Preferences | |
| DNR/DNI | 91 (64.5%) |
| Full Code | 50 (35.5%) |
| Missing | 113 |
*
Palliative performance scale is a single-item 11-point measure9
^
Primary diagnosis is determined by the palliative care consultant