Table 2.
Description of palliative care and EOLD during COVID-19 pandemic
| Results (N = 313) | |
|---|---|
| Personnel involved in EOLD process*, n (%) | |
| Attending physician | 293 (93.6) |
| Head of the ICU | 253 (80.8) |
| Patient’s relatives | 170 (54.3) |
| Attending nurse | 157 (50.2) |
| Consultant physician | 90 (28.8) |
| Matron/Head nurse | 77 (24.6) |
| Palliative care physician | 22 (7.0) |
| Form of EOLD communication with patient’s family*, n (%) | |
| Family meeting | 269 (85.9) |
| Telephone call | 203 (64.9) |
| Meeting with patient’s family was not performed | 12 (3.8) |
| Videocall | 9 (2.9) |
| Involvement of the patient's family regarding EOLD, n (%) | |
|
Family/relatives were just informed about the decision; Patient was in comfort care if family/relatives did not disagree with the decision |
141 (45.0) |
| Family/relatives were included in the process, i.e. shared decisions | 81 (25.9) |
| Cannot answer as I was not involved in the decision process | 39 (12.5) |
|
Family/relatives were just informed about the decision; Patient was in comfort care despite family’s disagreement |
33 (10.5) |
| Family/relatives were not informed about the decision | 10 (3.2) |
| Family/relatives were fully responsible for the decision | 7 (2.2) |
| Inappropriate care of patient*, n (%) | |
| Yes, organ support was too long | 151 (48.2) |
| Yes, organ support was too extensive | 114 (36.4) |
| No | 100 (31.9) |
| Yes, organ support was not extensive enough | 40 (12.8) |
| Yes, organ support was too short | 36 (11.5) |
| Physician | |
| Express opinion about inappropriate care, Yes, n (%)a | 89 (92.7) |
| Opinion respected, Yesb | 71 (79.8) |
| Nurse | |
| Express opinion about inappropriate care, Yes, n (%)a | 87 (77.0) |
| Opinion respected, Yesb | 37 (42.5) |
| Resource scarcity situation experience, n (%) | |
| No | 86 (27.5) |
| Yes, occasionally | 36 (11.5) |
| Yes, repeatedly | 10 (3.2) |
| Did not answer | 181 (57.8) |
| Practice of comfort care was different during/before COVID-19 pandemic | |
| Strongly agree | 49 (15.7) |
| Somewhat agree | 104 (33.2) |
| Do not know | 34 (10.9) |
| Somewhat disagree | 90 (28.8) |
| Strongly disagree | 32 (10.2) |
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease, IQR interquartile range, EOLD end-of-life decision
aPercentage based on number of physicians/nurses who considered care of patient as inappropriate
bP < 0.001 between nurses and physicians regarding expressing their opinion regarding inappropriate care and respecting opinion
*More than one answer possible