Table 3.

Emergency physicians’ comfort level in end-of-life discussions (by seniority)

Comfort level category	Seniority group				P
	1: Senior resident/staff registrar (n=22)	2: Associate consultant (n=9)	3: Consultant (n=22)	4: Senior consultant (n=10)
General	3.45 (0.86)	3.89 (0.78)	4.32 (0.65)	3.60 (1.35)	0.0140
Terminal illness	4.36 (0.85)	4.22 (0.67)	4.55 (0.6)	4.10 (0.88)	0.4466
Sudden death	3.09 (1.06)	3.33 (0.87)	4.05 (1.00)	3.00 (1.49)	0.0196
Chronic disease with end-organ failure	3.82 (1.18)	4.44 (0.73)	4.45 (0.80)	3.90 (0.99)	0.1145
Frailty	3.91 (1.02)	4.56 (0.73)	4.18 (0.91)	4.10 (0.74)	0.3442
De-escalation of care	3.36 (1.22)	3.11 (0.93)	4.36 (0.58)	3.8 (1.03)	0.0021

ANOVA F-test comparing means. Estimates are presented as mean (SD). As determined by post hoc t-tests, significant pairwise differences (*P<0.05, **P<0.01) in comfort level exist between groups indicated below: general: 1 versus 3**, 3 versus 4*. Sudden death: 1 versus 3**, 3 versus 4*. De-escalation of care: 1 versus 3**, 2 versus 3**. Non parametric analyses were also performed but not presented as the results were congruent with the parametric analyses. The Kruskal-Wallis chi-square test was performed for comparison of medians and post-hoc Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner Wilcoxon z-tests for significant pairwise differences. SD: Standard deviation