• Abhijit Lele, Chong Cheever, Larry Healey, Kellie Hurley, Louis J Kim, and Claire J Creutzfeldt.
• 1 Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
• Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2019 Jan 1; 36 (1): 38-44.

Introduction:Transition to comfort measures only (CMO) is common in the neurocritical care unit, and close communication between interdisciplinary health-care teams is vital to a smooth transition. We developed and implemented a CMO huddle in an effort to reduce inconsistencies during the process of CMO transition.Methods:The CMO huddle was a multiphase quality improvement project in a neurocritical care unit of a level-1 trauma and comprehensive stroke center. Interdisciplinary critical care clinicians engaged in a huddle during CMO processes and participated in a pre- and postimplementation survey to examine the impact of CMO huddle on communication, missed opportunities, and improvement in knowledge.Results:Since the CMO implementation, a total of 131 patients underwent CMO transitions. After implementation of an interdisciplinary CMO huddle, 64.3% of neurocritical care nurses reported that they felt included and involved in CMO process compared to 28% before implementation ( P = .003); 87.9% of all neurocritical care clinicians reported that they felt comfortable participating in CMO discussions compared to 69.8% before ( P < .001); 57.4% of all neurocritical care clinicians reported that the CMO huddle improved communication among neurocritical care clinicians, 51.9% reported reduction in missed opportunities during CMO process, and 21.7% reported witnessing less-than-ideal CMO process compared to 80% before ( P < .001).Conclusions:Implementation of a multidisciplinary huddle in the neuro-intensive care unit before transition to CMO may improve clinician's experience of the end-of-life process through enhanced nursing inclusion and involvement and organized communication with the neurocritical care team.

24 keywords...

hide…